Enforcement of foreign exchange and anti money laundering laws empowers ED to investigate, attach assets and prosecute offenders under statutory frameworks. The Directorate of Enforcement is mandated to investigate and enforce offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, exercising powers to trace proceeds of crime, provisionally attach and seize property, adjudicate contraventions and initiate prosecutions, while also carrying residual functions under prior foreign exchange laws and sponsoring preventive detention where foreign exchange contraventions are implicated.