New Delhi, Aug 25: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to have a relook at its verdict upholding the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and said “prima facie” the two aspects of not providing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and reversal of the presumption of innocence require reconsideration.
The apex court said this as it agreed to hear a plea seeking a review of the judgment that had upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, search, and seizure under the PMLA. It also issued notice to the Centre.
At the same time, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the object of the PMLA is noble and the offence of money laundering is serious, adding the court is completely in support of prevention of black money and money laundering and that the country cannot afford such types of offences.
The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, was hearing a plea filed by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram seeking a review of its July 27 judgement in the PMLA case.
“There is no need for elaborate arguments. We three feel that only two aspects which may be necessary to be re-looked into the judgement,” it said.
Referring to the two aspects relating to not providing ECIR to the accused and reversal of the presumption of innocence, the bench said after reading the judgement, “prima facie” it feels that these are the two issues that require reconsideration.
The court also said whatever interim protection was there in the matter, it would be extended by another four weeks and the matter would be listed before an appropriate bench.
In its July 27 verdict, the court had said the supply of a copy of the ECIR in every case is “not mandatory” and it is enough if the ED discloses the grounds of arrest while apprehending an accused.
It observed that an ECIR cannot be equated with the First Information Report (FIR) under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in view of the special mechanism envisaged by the PMLA, 2002 and that authorities are “not police officers as such”.
On the aspect of reversal of the presumption of innocence, the court had said that when a person is accused of having committed the offence of money laundering, the burden of proving that proceeds of crime are untainted property shall be on the accused.
The judgement was delivered on a batch of over 200 petitions filed by individuals and other entities questioning various provisions of the PMLA, a law which the opposition has often claimed has been weaponised by the Centre to harass its political adversaries.
The verdict had evoked contrasting responses from the BJP and the Congress, with the ruling party hailing it as a “landmark judgement” and its rival expressing concern that it would increase the possibility of the probe agency’s “political misuse”. (PTI)
