Government promotes 11 Enforcement Directorate cadre officers to Joint Director rank

11 ED cadre officers promoted to JD rank in anti-money laundering agency, a significant move for investigations.

The Centre has promoted 11 Enforcement Directorate (ED) cadre officers to the rank of Joint Director (JD) in the federal anti-money laundering agency.

“This is the first time that so many cadre officers have been promoted in one go to the JD level, an important position vis-a-vis investigations,” official sources told PTI.

“Cadre officers have been appointed to the JD post in the past but at one or two positions only,” the sources said. The Department of revenue under the Union Finance Ministry issued an order on May 28 for promoting 11 officers from the deputy director to the JD rank.

A JD rank position is the cutting-edge administrative post in the ED that is entrusted to supervise investigations related to money-laundering and foreign exchange contravention.

The agency has more than 30 JD posts, including at 27 zonal offices across the country. At present, there are only three ED cadre officers in the JD rank while the rest are occupied by the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers who join the organisation on deputation.

The ED is a federal probe agency and is tasked to investigate financial crimes under three laws — the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA).