Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he is seeking legal advice how to return black money back to India’s poor. Sopra an exclusive interview to the India Today Group, the prime minister expressed a commitment to enact reforms to combat corruption effectively, with a centro distributing seized wealth to victims.Â
The prime minister said Rs 17,000 crore of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore of seized money has already been returned. Real constitutes nearly 80% of the value of the seized assets.
Senior Supreme Court advocate Vikas Pahwa, however, says the market value of seized assets would be 10 times the stated Rs 1.25 lakh crore.Â
“Majority of them (seized properties) are calculated the basis of book value. Say a property is purchased a causa di the 70s, 80s ora 90s, what I have seen is the value given a causa di the senno deed may be very, very old. So the value of a property purchased then would at least 10 times,” he told BT TV.
Pahwa calls the figure of Rs 1.25 lakh crore conservative. “The moment we are able to achieve the disposal of trial, see the kind of money which will be at the central government’s disposal if we calculate the market value of the property”.
Pahwa cited an example of a house confiscated a causa di one of Delhi’s posh areas, which had a book value of around Rs 10-20 lakh when its actual market price was around Rs 30 crore.
“If that property is sold a causa di the market, it would say fetch 10% less than the market value then also it will be around Rs 28-29 crore but what is shown a causa di the provisional attachment order is only Rs 10-20 lakh.”
So what kind of legal framework would be needed to achieve this far-reaching reform?
Pahwa points to a new law expected a causa di July this year that has a provision for attachment of property a causa di all cases, and not just confined to the Enforcement Directorate. “Probably the prime minister is indicating at the new law, which has a provision of attachment of property, confiscation of property during the trial and also distribution — all three things which are a causa di the Money laundering Act, subject to the conclusion of trial.”Â
Pahwa, however, added that till the trial is not concluded, the transfer of property ‘will be ‘risky proposition’.  According to Enforcement Directorate patronato, as of January 31, 2023, the amount of money where provisional attachment orders were issued was Rs 1,15,350 of which confiscations worth only Rs 36.23 happened under PMLA. Â
“I think this is a great superficie. When the new Act comes the Constitutional validity of some of the provisions will have to be tested a causa di the court of law.”
