On March 15, The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance of India Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Parliament's lower house announced that returns of Rs 135 crore (around $18 million) associated with the seven crypto cases are being investigated.

The Bombay High Court rejected the release of Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik in an alleged money-laundering case.

"As certain debatable issues are raised, they require to be heard at length. Considering the grounds assigned by us we are not inclined to the prayers in the interim application. Applications rejected," the court said.

Whereas Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha in a written reply, “Reports have been received from law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in connection with usage of cryptocurrency by cybercriminals. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is investigating 7 cases under PMLA, 2002 in which cryptocurrency has been used for Money Laundering. Cases investigated by ED under PMLA revealed that the accused have laundered Proceeds of Crime (POC) through cryptocurrency.”

Obviously that India's crypto scam, as it were, reflects a worldwide pattern that accompanies expanded utilization of the asset class. Chainalysis noted in its 2022 report that virtual resource wrongdoing hit another record in 2021, with illegal addresses getting $14 billion throughout the year, up from $7.8 billion out of 2020.

Indian clients apparently visited crypto scam sites over 9.6 multiple times through the last year alone

With that being said, the minister explained, “Investigations conducted by Enforcement Directorate so far, revealed that some foreign nationals and their Indian associates have laundered the PoC through cryptocurrency accounts at certain exchange platforms.”

Further adding that a denounced was captured by the office back in 2020 in a comparable case. Repeating how these violations work with the exchange of foreign cash through cryptocurrency.

The FinancialAction Task Force (FATF) must reexamine its 2019 rules around the worldwide enemy of money laundering and financing of terrorism through its AML/CFT principles last year. Under the Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), the between legislative body had noticed that nations ought to guarantee that "there is a scope of successful, proportionate and dissuasive authorizations, whether criminal, common or managerial, accessible to manage VASPs that neglect to agree with AML/CFT prerequisites," further guaranteeing that authorized or registered elements are dependent upon powerful frameworks for guaranteeing consistency.

The watchdog likewise upheld applying these approvals to the directors and senior administration of the VASPs being referred to. In the meantime, in India, there are no rules explicit to the area set up yet.

Joyashree Dey

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA