SC TO REVIEW verdict on PMLA POWERS OF ED

                     From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider review of its order upholding the Enforcement Directorate’s wide powers to arrest, attach property involved in money laundering and seizures under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“Okay, we will list it,” said a Bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana after a mention before it. The verdict had come from a 3-judge Bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

The judgment had come on July 27 by a Bench headed by Justice Khanwilkar just before his retirement on a clutch 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 government to harass its political adversaries.

It was observed in the ruling that it is common experience the world over that money laundering can be a “threat” to the good functioning of a financial system, the apex court had observed on July 27 while upholding the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA. It underlined that this is not an “ordinary offence.”

The ruling said the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) cannot be equated with an FIR under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The bench had said supply of an ECIR copy in every case to the person concerned is not mandatory and it is enough if the ED, at the time of arrest, discloses the grounds of such an arrest.