New Delhi, Feb 22 (.) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) held its 34th Quarterly Conference of Zonal Officers (QCZO) from February 19-21, in Guwahati, Assam, marking a strategically significant gathering ahead of the close of the financial year. The three-day conference was chaired by the Director of ED and attended by all Special Directors, Additional Directors, Joint Directors, Deputy and Assistant Legal Advisors, along with senior officers from headquarters and field formations.
The decision to organise the conference in the North Eastern Region reflects the Directorate’s growing operational focus in the region. Over the past two to three years, the ED has expanded its presence in the North East by opening six new offices and establishing operations in almost all States. Efforts are also underway to operationalise an office in Aizawl. The region has witnessed notable enforcement actions, particularly in cybercrime and drug trafficking cases, which are considered high-risk due to proximity to the Myanmar and Bangladesh borders.
The Guwahati conference assumed added importance as it was the final quarterly review before the end of the financial year. Discussions emphasised achieving meaningful targets, logical closure of investigations, timely filing of prosecution complaints, and ensuring that attachments and penalties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are legally sustainable.
A key theme was data integrity, with zonal heads directed to ensure accurate and reconciled real-time data entry in the ED’s internal case management system before March 31, 2026.
The target of filing 500 Prosecution Complaints during the current financial year was reiterated, with field formations urged to intensify efforts. Zones were advised to identify mature cases for filing final prosecution complaints and reduce investigation timelines to one to two years, except in exceptionally complex cases. Officers were also encouraged to identify significant new cases to address evolving patterns of economic crime.
Several priority areas were identified, including tracking foreign assets parked abroad in jurisdictions such as Dubai and Singapore, tackling trade-based money laundering through invoice manipulation, and examining misuse of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to defeat attachment proceedings. Digital arrest scams, cyber frauds, illegal betting platforms, financial networks of drug traffickers, hawala linkages, share market manipulation, and suspicious foreign funding channels were also flagged for focused action.
The conference underlined the importance of international cooperation through formal mechanisms such as Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) requests, Letters Rogatory, extradition processes, and informal platforms like Interpol channels and financial intelligence exchanges. Officers were encouraged to strengthen institutional partnerships with foreign counterparts for effective cross-border asset recovery.
Presentations were also made by agencies, including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), FIU-IND, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to enhance inter-agency coordination. Key discussions covered the IBC–PMLA interface, FINNET 2.0 intelligence systems, emerging cybercrime trends, and financial investigations into narcotics trafficking.
The Directorate also reviewed progress in adjudication of legacy FERA cases and infrastructure expansion, including new premises and land acquisition in cities such as Shillong, Dehradun, Raipur, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
The conference concluded with a reaffirmation of ED’s commitment to strengthening investigations, ensuring accountability, enhancing data governance, and achieving a robust closure of the financial year. . ATK SAS KK