New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the twin conditions for bail under amended Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and said money laundering is a heinous crime, which not only affects the social and economic fabric of the nation, but promotes other heinous crimes.
A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said the twin conditions, though restrict the right of the accused to grant of bail, don’t impose absolute restraint.
The top court said the provision, as applicable post the amendment in 2018, is reasonable and does not suffer from the vice of arbitrariness or unreasonableness.
“We hold that the provision in the form of Section 45 of the 2002 Act, as applicable post amendment of 2018, is reasonable and has direct nexus with the purposes and objects sought to be achieved by the 2002 Act to combat the menace of money-laundering having transnational consequences including impacting the financial systems and sovereignty and integrity of the countries,” it said.
The bench also included Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.
The twin conditions state that when an accused in a money laundering case applies for bail, the court has to first give an opportunity to the public prosecutor to be heard and only when it is satisfied that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit a similar offence when released can bail be granted.
Noting that offence of money laundering has been regarded as an aggravated form of crime the “world over”, the top court said it is a separate class of offence requiring effective and stringent measures to combat.
“Money-laundering is one of the heinous crimes, which not only affects the social and economic fabric of the nation, but also tends to promote other heinous offences, such as terrorism, offences related to NDPS Act, etc.
“It is a proven fact that international criminal network that support homegrown extremist groups relies on transfer of unaccounted money across nation states, thus, by any stretch of imagination, it cannot be said that there is no compelling state interest in providing stringent conditions of bail for the offence of money-laundering,” the bench said.
The court said it was because of the seriousness of the crime that stringent measures, including attachment and confiscation of proceeds of crime and to prosecute the people involved, have been provided for in the law.
“In view of the gravity of the fallout of money laundering activities having transnational impact, a special procedural law for prevention and regulation, including to prosecute the person involved, has been enacted, grouping the offenders involved in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime as a separate class from ordinary criminals,” the bench said.
The top court delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions related to interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA.
It upheld the ED’s powers to arrest, attach property, search and seize under the PMLA. PTI PKS ABA SK SK
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