New Delhi: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday (Washington local time) refuted the allegation that the Enforcement Directorate was being used as a political tool and defended the actions of the agency on private capital and civil societies. At a media briefing on her official visit to the United States, she said, “ED is completely independent in what it does, it is an agency that follows predicate offences,” quoted by news agency ANI.
Responding to the question on the ED and Income Tax Department going after sections of private capital but also civil societies, she said, “The first offence is already picked up by any other agency, whether it is CBI or any other agency and it is forced that ED comes into the picture. ED does not appear at first instance.”
“There are instances which stand out and if ED goes there, it is because of some prima facie evidence in their hands and some of them have been covered by media – the quantum of money seized, gold and jewellery seized. They have to act,” she added, as quoted by ANI.
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During the briefing, the Union Minister also spoke about the G20 challenges due to geopolitical tensions and India’s plan to navigate through this environment.
“We had discussions with many G20 members, and during the meetings, the concern about this whole year – Indonesia has gone through a very difficult Presidency, even in this meeting I can say, none of the meetings – the Washington DC, G20 FMCGB couldn’t come up with the communique at all. All of them ended up coming up with some chair statements. I really applaud the officials of all delegations for the night-long work they have done to arrive at something. But, still, the communique was not possible at all,” she said.
Speaking about India’s Presidency of G20, she stated, “We are taking the Presidency at a time when there are a lot of challenges, we will have to work together with the membership to see how best we can navigate the whole thing.”
The Finance Minister during her US visit held 24 bilaterals and also met World Bank President David Malpass in Washington. The two leaders held discussions over various topics including India’s Presidency at G20, improving capital adequacy framework oF MDBs, addressing debt vulnerabilities and enhancing WBG’s engagement with India through Knowledge Exchange and MIGA.