Supreme Court Annual Digest 2023- Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002

Prevention of Money Laundering Act (Act 15 of 2003) – Section 3 – Registration of ECIR – Effect of delay – Information about all complaints, the nature of the complaints, and the amount of money allegedly collected towards illegal gratification had all come into the public domain – Once a piece of information relating to the acquisition of a huge amount of illegal gratification in the matter of public employment has come into the public domain, it is the duty of the ED to register an Information Report – Held, registration of ECIR does not amount to fishing expedition – Further held, argument that there is no explanation for the delay in registering the ECIR self-serving – Writ petition challenging ED investigation dismissed. 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 440Prevention of Money Laundering Act (Act 15 of 2003); Sections 3 and 44 – Territorial Jurisdiction of Special PMLA Court – Place of commission of the offence of money-laundering – The involvement of a person in any one or more of certain processes or activities connected with the proceeds of crime, namely, concealment, possession, acquisition, use, projecting as untainted property, or claiming as untainted property, constitutes the offence of money-laundering – All the places where any one or more of these processes or activities take place are the places where the offence of money-laundering has been committed – Triable by the special court(s) constituted for the area(s) in which the offence of money-laundering has been committed – Held, the petition could not be entertained since the issue of territorial jurisdiction could not be decided in a writ petition, especially in the presence of a serious factual dispute about the place or places of commission of the offence – Petition dismissed. (Paras 38 to 40) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 86Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 - Directorate of Enforcement (ED) - Being a premier investigating agency, charged with the onerous responsibility of curbing the debilitating economic offence of money laundering in our country, every action of the ED in the course of such exercise is expected to be transparent, above board and conforming to pristine standards of fair play in action. The ED, mantled with far-reaching powers under the stringent Act of 2002, is not expected to be vindictive in its conduct and must be seen to be acting with utmost probity and with the highest degree of dispassion and fairness. (Para 20) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 844Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 - Mere fact that chargesheet has been filed for the predicate offences is not a ground to release the accused on bail in connection with the offences under the PML Act. 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 433Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 19 - Any non-compliance of the mandate of Section 19 of the PMLA, 2002 would enure to the benefit of the person arrested. For such noncompliance, the Competent Court shall have the power to initiate action under Section 62 of the PMLA, 2002. (Para 39) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 611Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 19 - In any event, it is not open to the ED to expect an admission of guilt from the person summoned for interrogation and assert that anything short of such admission would be an 'evasive reply'. (Para 25) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 844Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 19 (3) - When an arrestee is forwarded to the jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 19(3) of the PMLA, 2002 no writ of Habeus Corpus would lie. Any plea of illegal arrest is to be made before such Magistrate since custody becomes judicial. (Para 82) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 611Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 19 and 50 - Mere noncooperation of a witness in response to the summons would not be enough to render him/her liable to be arrested. (Para 25) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 844Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 45 - Rigours under Section 45 are applicable to anticipatory bail applications. (Para 5) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 138Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; Section 45 - The respondent has undergone over 620 days of custody. Since in the exercise of its discretion, the High Court has come to the conclusion that the respondent should be released on bail, we are not interfering with the order under Article 136 of the Constitution. (Para 3) 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 603Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2003 - It is only in the event the person named in the criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence is finally absolved by a Court of competent jurisdiction owing to an order of discharge, acquittal or because of quashing of the criminal case 24(scheduled offence) against him/ her, there can be no action for money laundering against such a person or person claiming through him in relation to the property linked to the stated scheduled offence. In the instant case, there is neither discharge nor acquittal nor quashing of the criminal case by the court of competent jurisdiction against the accused in the predicate/ scheduled...

Supreme Court Annual Digest 2023- Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002

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