The Supreme Court on Wednesday cautioned in opposition to “indiscriminate” enforcement of the anti-money laundering regulation and stated it can’t be used as a “weapon” to place individuals behind bars.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana stated the rampant use of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 would result in a scenario through which the regulation would lose “relevance”. Instead, the Act must be used “reasonably”, it stated.
“You are diluting the act. Not solely that, that is the case. If you begin utilizing it as a weapon in opposition to Rs 10,000-case and Rs 100-case, what is going to occur? You cannot put all of the individuals behind bars. You should make good use of it,” CJI Ramana advised Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, showing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a petition associated to the cash laundering case. “If you start using the proceedings of the Enforcement Directorate indiscriminately, this is what happens. The Act will lose its relevance,” Justice AS Bopanna stated.
The remarks of the bench, additionally comprising Justice Hima Kohli, got here on a day when it heard two instances through which the accused have been booked below PMLA. The first was a particular go away petition filed by the CBI, difficult a Telangana High Court order granting anticipatory bail to businessman Narendra Kumar Patel. Patel was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January 2021 on PMLA expenses in a financial institution fraud case. The prime court docket on Wednesday issued discover to the CBI within the matter.
The second was a particular go away petition by Usha Martin Ltd, difficult a Jharkhand High Court order refusing to grant any aid to the metal firm on summons issued within the PMLA case.
Issuing discover to the central authorities, the apex court docket bench granted safety from arrest to the petitioner and likewise stayed the implementation of the summons dated May 20, 2021.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
