New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday said concealment, possession, acquisition or even projecting a property connected to proceeds of crime as untainted constitutes an offence under the anti-money laundering law.
The apex court said it is amply clear from the bare language of section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that money laundering is an independent offence regarding the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime which had been derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence.
Section 3 of the Act deals with the offence of money laundering.
“The process or activity can be in any form — be it one of concealment, possession, acquisition, use of proceeds of crime as much as projecting it as untainted property or claiming it to be so,” a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said.
“Thus, involvement in any one of such process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime would constitute offence of money laundering,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.
While upholding the validity of certain provisions, the top court said section 3 of the Act has a wider reach and captures every process and activity, direct or indirect, in dealing with proceeds of crime and is not limited to the happening of the final act of integration of tainted property in the formal economy.
“Projecting or claiming the property as untainted property would constitute an offence of money laundering on its own, being an independent process or activity,” it said.
The top court delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA.
It upheld the ED’s powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, and search and seizure under the PMLA. PTI ABA ABA SK SK
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