SC's Vijay Madanlal Judgment Doesn't Exempt Foreign Recipients Of Proceeds Of Crime From Scrutiny On Mere Contractual Legitimacy Of Transaction: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that foreign recipients of proceeds of crime are not exempted from scrutiny under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on a mere ground of 'contractual legitimacy' of transactions.Justice Ravinder Dudeja thus rejected the plea of one Amrit Pal Singh, a resident of Hong Kong for the past 17 years, being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.As per facts, Singh's company received fraudulent foreign outward remittances amounting to USD 2,880,210...

'Pankaj Bansal' Judgment On Supply Of Grounds Of Arrest Applies Only Prospectively, Argues Karnataka Govt In Supreme Court

In a case filed by the State of Karnataka, the Supreme Court is likely to consider the issue as to whether its judgment in Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India, which held that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) must furnish grounds of arrest to the accused in writing, is retrospective in application.A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh heard the matter yesterday and adjourned it to June 26.The case assails decision dated 17.04.2025 rendered by the Karnataka High Court holding...

Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Validity Of S. 50 & 63 Of PMLA On ED's Summoning Powers

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Constitutional validity of S.50 and S.63 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). The plea states that the impugned provisions are violative of Articles 14, 20,21 and 300A of the Constitution. Last week, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih issued notice to the Union on the petition and tagged it with a similar matter (WP(Crl) 65/2023)Notably, S. 50 of the PMLA provides...

Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam | 'No Possibility Of Trial Commencing In Near Future' : Supreme Court Grants Bail To PMLA Accused

The Supreme Court on Monday(May 19) granted bail to Anwar Dhebar, businessman and brother of former Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar, accused in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged Rs. 2,000 crore Chhattisgarh liquor scam.A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed that the maximum sentence prescribed for the offence is seven years and that there is no possibility of the trial commencing in the near future.“Following the law laid down in the case of Senthil...

Review Petitions Against PMLA Judgment Can't Go Beyond 2 Issues : Union Tells Supreme Court

In the review petitions filed against the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary judgement, which upheld various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Union Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 7) that the review hearing cannot go beyond the two specific issues which were orally flagged by the bench which issued notice in August 2022.A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh held a brief hearing of the review petitions today. At the...

PMLA Accused Entitled To Receive List Of Materials Not Relied Upon By ED : Supreme Court

The Court held that the production of unrelied upon documents can be sought by the accused in bail hearing as well.

PMLA Review: Supreme Court Reconstitutes Bench To Hear Pleas Against Vijay Madanlal Choudhary Judgment; Listed On May 7

The Supreme Court will hear on May 7 the review petitions filed against the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary judgement, which upheld various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).It may be recalled that a bench of Justices Surya Kant, CT Ravikumar (now retired) and Ujjal Bhuyan was dealing with the matter. However, after the retirement of Justice Ravikumar, a need arose for reconstitution of the bench.The bench now stands reconstituted with the addition of Justice N Kotiswar Singh,...

Proceedings U/S 37 A Of FEMA Can't Be Continued During Moratorium U/S 33(5) Of IBC: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court bench of Justice Jay Sengupta has held that once a liquidation order against the Corporate Debtor is passed, all proceedings including those pending at the time of such order under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) cannot be continued, nor can any new proceedings be initiated, in view of the bar under Section 33(5) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code). This is further reinforced by the non obstante clause under Section 238 of the Code,...

S.17 PMLA | Can't Direct ED To Serve 'Reasons To Believe' Before Conducting Search, May Lead To Concealment Of Evidence: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that it cannot issue an omnibus direction mandating the Enforcement Directorate to serve 'reason to believe' the commission of money laundering offence before conducting a search in terms of Section 17 PMLA, as the same may alert the suspect to conceal evidence."Section 17 is a preliminary stage where based on some information in possession the ED search is conducted and if no prima facie case is made out, automatically all action is dropped, but if any...

Should Grounds Of Arrest Be Mandatorily Supplied 'Prior' To Arrest In Every Case? Supreme Court Reserves Orders In Worli Hit & Run Case

'Most inhuman conduct. You did not have the courtesy to send the lady (victim) to hospital', said J Gavai to the accused's counsel.

Madras High Court Reserves Orders On Pleas Challenging ED Search At TASMAC Headquarters, Verdict Likely On April 23

The Madras High Court has reserved orders on pleas filed by the State Government and the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation challenging the recent searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on the TASMAC headquarters on March 6 and March 8. The bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar reserved the orders today after hearing Senior Advocate Vikas Singh for TASMAC. In the previous hearing itself the court had said that it would reserve the orders but gave a special...

'In Policy Domain' : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Guidelines Against Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Transactions

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a petition seeking guidelines from the Court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution to prevent and penalize fraudulent transactions involving cryptocurrencies.A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih passed the order, being of the view that the prayers made were within the domain of the legislature and the executive. Be that as it may, the bench left it open for the petitioners to make a representation before the appropriate...