An amount of Rs 936 crore related to cryptocurrency has been attached or seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday.
The minister further said that, five people have been arrested and six prosecution complaints (PCs) including one supplementary PC have been filed before the Special Court, PMLA in these cases.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday Chaudhary said that crypto assets are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage.
Under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), assets amounting to Rs 289.28 crore have been seized under section 37A of FEMA and one show-cause notice to cryptocurrency exchange Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd, known as WazirX and its directors under FEMA for transactions involving crypto currencies worth Rs 2,790 crore has also been issued.
Thus, the Minister said that any sort of legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only with significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards.
The ED is investigating several cases related to cryptocurrency frauds wherein a few crypto exchanges have also been found involved in money laundering, he said, adding that necessary action as per provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) has been taken by the ED.
