Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that an acquittal in a predicate offence does not preclude prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, while deciding a plea filed by Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, examined his request to quash the PMLA trial on the contention that proceedings in the scheduled offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) had been stayed by the Supreme Court.
The case stemmed from Khaira’s challenge to his ongoing PMLA trial. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November 2021 over alleged links to an international drug syndicate. The agency has claimed that Khaira “gave protection” to drug traffickers and channelled the illicit proceeds into political activities, including financing his election campaign.
The Court clarified that the offence of money laundering stands on an independent footing from the predicate offence, though it derives its basis from the proceeds of crime linked to such predicate offence. Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observed, “The offence of money laundering is independent of the scheduled offence; nevertheless, it gets its substratum from the proceeds of crime obtained as a result of commission of a scheduled offence. Therefore, existence of scheduled offence is a sine qua non so far as commission of offence under the PMLA is concerned, though the accused under the PMLA need not necessarily be a person accused of committing the scheduled offence as he can still indulge in a process and activity connected with proceeds of the crime derived from commission of a scheduled offence.”
Further, the Court held that prosecution under Section 3 of the PMLA can proceed independently of an acquittal in the predicate offence, so long as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is able to establish a clear money trail linking the individual to the proceeds of crime.
The Court noted that Khaira had “facilitated sale of drugs by co-accused Gurdev Singh and received the drug money from him.” It further stated, “Under Section 3 of PMLA, he is accused of using proceeds of crime generated by offence under the NDPS Act by co-accused Gurdev Singh, who stands convicted for scheduled offences... even if petitioner is acquitted of charges pertaining to scheduled offences, his prosecution under the PMLA will remain unaffected.”
Disclaimer: This news/ article includes information received via a syndicated news feed. The original rights remain with the respective publisher.
Picture Source :
