New Delhi, Oct. 13 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has decided to realign its strategy by focusing more on its core mandate - attaching proceeds of crime to prevent offenders from benefiting from them -- amid criticism over its low conviction rate, people familiar with the development have said. According to a senior Enforcement Directorate officer, the federal financial crimes probe agency has attached over Rs.30,000 crore of property as proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in financial year 2024-25, compared with Rs.12,477 in 2023-24. In the first five months (April to August) of FY2025-26, the agency has already attached properties worth Rs.15,000 crore, said minister of state for finance, Pankaj Chaudhary. Officials aware of the matter said the numbers could go even higher this year. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act was enacted in 2002 and implemented from July 1, 2005, to check serious crimes of tax evasion, generation of black money and money laundering. Since 2005, Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth a whopping Rs.1.69 lakh crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 8,092 cases. A senior officer, who didn't want to be named, said: "The issue was discussed recently at length at a quarterly conference of ED's zonal officers in Srinagar, in which director Rahul Navin instructed all units to focus on the core work, attaching the proceeds of crimes and subsequent possession so that the offenders are not able to enjoy it". To be sure, the officer said, this doesn't mean ED officers and prosecutors have to ignore fast-tracking of trials in courts and filing of prosecution complaints (charge sheets). "The zonal offices have been told to identify the proceeds of crime in all kind of scheduled offences including illegal betting, cyber crimes, bank frauds, corruption cases, etc; attach it; get it confirmed through the adjudicated authority, file charge sheet (s) and then make active efforts to restore it to the victims - individuals or financial institutions", he added. Enforcement Directorate 's latest data, seen by HT, reveals that it has already restituted assets worth Rs.34,580 crore, out of which over Rs. 15,000 crore is linked to fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. While sharing Prevention of Money Laundering Act statistics in Parliament in March this year, the Centre said that ED had registered 193 cases against politicians, including members of parliament and MLAs, in the last 10 years, but conviction was secured in only two cases. The agency has stated on more than one occasion that its conviction rate is 94%, as out of 54 Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases in which trial has been completed, conviction has been achieved in 51 cases....