TMI Blog2022 (10) TMI 1080X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y, we are afraid no further authorisation is required for him to file a complaint for the Special Court to take cognizance of the offence u/s.44(b) of the PMLA. It is true that Section 420 IPC was not a scheduled offence under the PMLA on 25.09.2008 when the case was registered by the CBI and that it was included in the statute only with effect from 01.06.2009. In this case, the Enforcement Directorate has registered the case only after 01.06.2009, viz. , on 23.11.2010 - irrespective of the fact as to when the scheduled offence was committed, if the proceeds of crime that is generated from the commission of a scheduled offence is laundered after the coming into force of the PMLA, 2002, then one can be prosecuted u/s.3 r/w 4 of the PMLA. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s including Anuraag Jain and Manjula. 2.2. The sum and substance of the allegation in the FIR is that, R.Kannan, the then Chief Manager of Union Bank of India, Mount Road, Branch, Chennai, has granted huge loans to M/s.National Medicines Private Limited [hereinafter referred to as NMPL ], a company run by the family of Anuraag Jain, which later became an NPA. 2.3. On enquiry, it was found that NMPL had submitted documents of properties with existing encumbrance as collateral security for the loan amounting to Rs.4.25 crores. It may be pertinent to state here that at the time when the case was registered i.e. on 25.09.2008, Section 420 IPC was not a scheduled offence in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [hereinafter referre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 79(E), dated 29.08.2013, S.O.1275(E) dated 13th September 2005, issued by the Central Government and Order in F.No.6/14/2008-ES dated 11.11.2014 of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, New Delhi. Section 48 (c) ibid., clearly classifies the Assistant Director as an authority for the purposes of this Act . Thus, when the statute itself classifies the Assistant Director as an authority, we are afraid no further authorisation is required for him to file a complaint for the Special Court to take cognizance of the offence u/s.44(b) of the PMLA. 7. Insofar as the second submission is concerned, it is true that Section 420 IPC was not a scheduled offence under the PMLA on 25.09.2008 when the case was registere ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oney-laundering is not dependent on or linked to the date on which the scheduled offence or if we may say so the predicate offence has been committed. The relevant date is the date on which the person indulges in the process or activity connected with such proceeds of crime. These ingredients are intrinsic in the original provision (Section 3, as amended until 2013 and were in force till 31.7.2019); and the same has been merely explained and clarified by way of Explanation vide Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019. Thus understood, inclusion of Clause (ii) in Explanation inserted in 2019 is of no consequence as it does not alter or enlarge the scope of Section 3 at all. (emphasis supplied) 9. A reading of the above clearly shows that irrespecti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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