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ATFP, New Delhi clarified that adjudication proceedings under Section 8 PMLA remain mandatory even if a Special Court passes a confiscation order before filing of complaint.
“The plea of the property being ancestral does not ipso facto grants immunity from attachment under the PMLA.”
The petitioners were engaged in large scale hawala transactions and illegal international cricket betting that were conducted through a Super Master Login Id and by creating subordinate Ids for individual bettors and earning commission.
“Judicial decorum and legal propriety mandates that where a Single Bench or Division Bench does not agree with the decision of the Bench of co-ordinate jurisdiction, the matter should be referred to a Larger Bench.”
“The audio clip and letter found, alleged coercion of ED officers to implicated CM Pinarayi Vijayan and other political leaders in a case involving seizure of 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on 06-07-2020, which was allegedly marked as ‘Diplomatic Baggage’ and was being sent to the UAE Consulate.”
Explore latest cases reported in SCC’S High Court Cases (HCC) on matter related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 covering critical issues related to power of authorities regarding summons, Bail, Sanction for prosecution, Grounds of Incomplete investigation, Interpretation of “reasonable grounds for believing” under S. 45 PMLA, and more.
Anti-Corruption Bureau probed irregularities in granting of Rs 100 crore contract to the petitioners for three projects including the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi. Based on such findings, Enforcement Directorate registered separate money-laundering case against the petitioners.
by Bhomesh Bellam*
It is not the petitioner’s case that he was not supplied with the grounds of arrest at the time of the arrest and prior to the remand being sought. The remand application was detailed, and contained, effectively the same set of facts as were stated in the grounds of arrest.
The Court opined that since Enforcement Case Investigation Report (‘ECIR’) is not a condition precedent for starting an investigation or inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate and is only an internal record of the department, its quashing would serve no purpose whatsoever.
“It was also alleged that illegal kidney transplantation was the only occupation of the petitioner, and his entire earnings were from this source only.”
“The Court, recognizing the significant delay in trial commencement and the uncertainty around its duration, granted bail to the accused and also extended the benefit of the proviso to Section 45 of the PMLA.”
“The Court also held that it is not necessary that a person against whom the offence under Section 3 of the PMLA is alleged, must be shown as the accused in the scheduled offence.”
The Court also considered the fact that the accused is a permanent resident of his locality, having his family members and ancestral property, hence, there is no scope of absconding if the accused person is granted bail.
“It is revealed during the investigation by Enforcement Directorate that the applicant is the brother and a close associate of the mastermind behind the present illegal coal levy scam and, is having strong links with politicians and businessmen in Chhattisgarh.”
Explaining the scope of the territorial jurisdiction of Special Court under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002, the bench of V Ramasubramanian and JB Pardiwala, JJ also held that the trial of the scheduled offence should follow the trial of the offence of money-laundering and not vice versa.
The Delhi High Court held that grant of bail should not be considered only when the person was in the condition of dying and the authorities should not give long dates to the prisoners for their medical check-up and instead act with promptness, so that check-up could be conducted early.
Patiala House Court (New Delhi): In a bail application plea under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
by Swarnendu Chatterjee†
Cite as: 2022 SCC OnLine Blog Exp 66