CJI Surya Kant Says Only ₹1 Out of Every ₹100 in Money Laundering Cases Is Recovered

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Surya Kant has said that authorities are able to recover only ₹1 for every ₹100 involved in money laundering cases. He attributed the poor recovery rate to the lack of international cooperation for investigating agencies and the increasingly sophisticated methods used by financial criminals.

He expressed concern that international cooperation in the extradition of economic offenders remains inadequate. The CJI made these remarks on Saturday at the 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime held at the University of Cambridge.

Justice Surya Kant said the amount of money laundered in a single year could be enough to buy laptops for every person on the planet, with money still left over. Referring to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, he noted that even in ancient times, the difficulties faced by officials handling a country’s finances in resisting personal temptation had been recognized.

He pointed out that the Arthashastra, written as early as the 2nd century BCE, recommended measures such as audits, cross-checking and confiscation to curb illicit wealth. Despite extradition arrangements and mutual legal assistance treaties with other countries, the recovery of illicit assets remains unsatisfactory, he said.

Meanwhile, India began efforts in 2017 and 2018 to bring back fugitive economic offenders Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi from the UK under the extradition treaty. However, nearly nine years later, both remain in the United Kingdom.