New Delhi: The union government announced yesterday that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 would come into force from July 1.

An official release highlighted that although the president of India had given his assent to the legislation in January 2003, it could not be brought into force due to certain lacunae in the Act. The Act had recently been amended to remove the shortcomings, the release added.

The government has entrusted the work relating to investigation, attachment of property/proceeds of crime relating to the scheduled offences under the Act and filing of complaints, etc, to the Directorate of Enforcement in the finance ministry.

Stating that India is committed to fight all forms of economic crimes including money laundering, the official release also said that a number of special laws regulating customs, excise, taxes, foreign exchange, narcotic drugs, banking, insurance, trade and commerce have been enacted to deal with economic crimes.