Home Case Index All Cases Money Laundering Money Laundering + HC Money Laundering - 2022 (12) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2022 (12) TMI 269 - HC - Money LaunderingMoney Laundering - scheduled offences - proceeds of crime - allegation is that the property has been acquired by D.Sridhar’s family via criminal activities - provisional attachment of properties - HELD THAT:- Admittedly, the Pothys had paid Rs.5,30,74,500/- as sale consideration to Kumari and Dhanalakshmi for purchasing the property. It is not the case of the Enforcement Directorate that the Pothys were benamies of Sridhar or Kumari or Dhanalakshmi. The Pothys have disclosed the entire payments that were made for the purchase of the said property. The Enforcement Directorate was not able to trace Rs.5,30,74,500/-, which had gone into the kitty of Kumari and Dhanalakshmi and therefore, they are now holding on to the property of the Pothys. When it is not the case of the Enforcement Directorate that the Pothys had purchased the property for a nominal consideration and that they are benamies of Sridhar and his family, the immovable property in the hands of the Pothys cannot be said to be "proceeds of crime". At the risk of repetition, this Court has quashed the prosecution against Ramesh Pothy holding that he was not involved either directly or indirectly in the money laundering offence with Sridhar and his family members. Section 8(7) of the PMLA came up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court in The Assistant Director v. Canara Bank [2021 (10) TMI 894 - MADRAS HIGH COURT], wherein, this Court has held that Section 8(7) of the PMLA is a stand alone section and is not governed by the proviso to Section 8(8) of the PMLA, as the latter would come into effect only after the culmination of the trial, but, whereas the former could be invoked during the pendency of the trial, if it is found that the trial is not progressing "for any other reason". In this case, there was no progress in the trial from 2017 onwards for various reasons - the property in question, which belongs to the Pothys cannot be confiscated in lieu of Rs.5,30,74,500/- in the hands of their vendors, to wit, Kumari and Dhanalakshmi. Of course, it would be open to the Enforcement Directorate to attach other properties of Kumari and Dhanalakshmi, if they are not able to trace the sum of Rs.5,30,74,500/-, but, that can, by no stretch of imagination, empower them to attach the buyers' properties for the sin of having purchased the same for a valid consideration from a tainted seller. Criminal revision allowed.
|