The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in relation to expansive definition of proceeds of crime, search and seizure, power of arrest, attachment of properties and tough bail conditions.
The verdict delivered by a three-judge bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravi Kumar is likely to affect a huge number of opposition leaders who are under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate, the central investigating agency responsible for fighting financial crimes in India.
Several politicians including Congress leader Karti Chidambaram and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had challenged various provisions of the PMLA. The petitioners had alleged that the law is violative of the constitutional guarantee of the right to liberty and right against self-incrimination under Articles 20 and 21. They had also raised multiple issues including one of the absences of procedure to commence investigation and summoning and the accused not being made aware of the contents of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).
The Union government had defended the stringent provisions arguing that money laundering poses threat not only to financial systems but the integrity and sovereignty of the nation.
The court said in its order that the ECIR cannot be equated to FIR as it is an internal document of the Enforcement Directorate. It added that supplying ECIR is not mandatory but a person can ask for records before a special court if continued imprisonment is necessary. The court also underlined that ED officers are not obligated to disclose the ground of arrest while detaining the accused in money laundering case.
“The @dir_ed is above & beyond,” Karti Chidambaram, one of the petitioners, tweeted soon after the verdict.
The verdict comes the day Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi was called by the ED for questioning in the National Herald case for the third day. BJP chief JP Nadda said that the provisions of the PMLA have been upheld by the Supreme Court and is taking its course.
“The Congress party’s attempt to keep one family above the law will not work. We must respect the law of the land,” news agency quoted Nadda as saying.