The Supreme Court declared on Wednesday that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) indiscriminate application of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act will undermine the legislation’s value and it cannot be used as a weapon to put individuals behind bars. The Supreme Court made the remark at a hearing on an appeal of a Jharkhand-based company in a money laundering case.
‘If you indiscriminately start using ED proceedings then the Act will lose its relevance’, the bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli said.
‘The ED is diluting the Act. Not just this case. If you start using it as a weapon against ? 1,000 (money laundering) case, ? 100 case, then what will happen. You can’t put all people behind bars. Such indiscriminate use will affect the value of Act’, the bench added.
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Usha Martin Limited, a steel business, has appealed to the Supreme Court against a Jharkhand High Court ruling in a matter involving the export of iron ore fines (IOF). The firm had contested the ED’s summons in connection with criminal proceedings before the District Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge, CBI for PMLA violations.
On November 3, 2021, the high court dismissed the request, prompting the current appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court took notice of the case and gave the appellants protection from coercion. The ED procedures, according to the plea, were founded on the premise that the firm engaged in IOF export and as a result, violated the terms of the state government’s leasing agreement.
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