"Blood boils:" Former ASG on misuse of ED, prolonged incarceration of PMLA accused

Former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Atmaram Nadkarni on Saturday criticised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for keeping money laundering accused in prison for long without trial.

Nadkarni said that ED should not take ages to investigate cases as the accused wait for trial inside the jail.

"ED in investigation cannot take ages. After probing you need to release the person," he said.

He said that ED's powers are very subjective and therefore, it functions according to 'his master's voice' and his blood boils when the system is used for extraneous purposes.

"Powers of ED are subjective and it depends. His master's voice which actually works and that is how ED works. I am openly saying it. Because you need somebody to say it openly and it is most unfortunate that people are not saying it and I have said it even when I was Additional Solicitor General. So I am saying it now also, it is high time in a civilized jurisprudence, after 3 years Supreme Court has now referred this matter (for review of PMLA judgment). It is high time we wake up to this reality. Yes criminals need to be tackled and seize everything but do not allow things to be used for extraneous purpose and my blood boils when I see it," he stated.

He also said that the Supreme Court has now started releasing money laundering accused on bail though the High Courts are still not doing it.

"It is unfortunate that the judiciary and the Supreme Court had to release them but still High Courts are not following it," he said.

Of course it all depends on case to case basis, he added.

He also said that the judiciary knows well that it is control which breeds corruption.

"See corruption is the worst cancer affecting the country. But it is control which breeds corruption. The judiciary knows it but does not acknowledge that control breeds corruption, that is it," he said.

Nadkarni was speaking at a panel discussion on the topic 'PMLA and its Facets.' The discussion was held at the First International Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Legal Conference in Goa.

Specifically on PMLA, Nadkarni said that most legislators were not aware of its implications when it was passed by the parliament during the rule of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2002.

He also highlighted that the Act was enforced when United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power and P Chidambaram became the Finance Minister.

Incidentally, Chidambaram also became a victim of PMLA after he was arrested in a money laundering case in 2018, he pointed out.

"When parliament passed it they did not know what would be the implication of its enforcement. Everyone just raised their hands. The Act was passed when BJP govt was there and it was implemented when P Chidambaram was the finance minister and at one time he also became a victim of PMLA," he said.

The former ASG also said that ED often attaches property and the same is never released. Sometimes even ancestral properties not related to the offence are attached.

"Property once attached is never released. Only in cases of three politicians properties were released. ED has attached ancestral properties also," he flagged.

In such situations, the only resort is judiciary. Therefore, he expressed hope that the judiciary would become pro-active in such cases.

"So the hope of the common man is only judiciary and not the statutory. I hope the judiciary becomes super active now on this," Nadkarni said.

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