ED attaches Rs 1,029 crore draft to TMC as Alchemist Group probe intensifies
New Delhi: Tough attitude, law enforcement bureau The issue of legal hurdles faced by the agency was raised on Friday, with its chief Rahul Navin questioning the assertion that money laundering criminal investigations should not proceed until the trial in the predicate crime case is completed.“Of course, there are legal challenges before the court, the most important being whether the money laundering trial should be suspended until the trial of the predicate crime case is completed or continue separately in line with international standards and Financial Action Task Force guidelines,” the education director said.His speech, delivered on the occasion of the agency’s 70th anniversary and in the presence of Finance Minister Pankaj Chaudhary, is likely to intensify the raging debate over whether investigations of money laundering offenses must rely on predicate offences; whether it is the offense that gave rise to money laundering, or whether it stands on its own given the seriousness of the money laundering activity.The matter is in a twilight zone and although the Supreme Court in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case linked the money laundering investigation with the predicate offence, the High Court judgment recognized that money laundering is a separate offence.Navin said that although the ED succeeded in achieving a 94% conviction rate, this ambiguity hindered its work. In his speech, Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the agency before the Constitutional Court, agreed with the education director.The education director also expressed confidence that the agency will continue to “crack down” on the more than 2,400 cases currently before the courts, resulting in the seizure of large amounts of criminal proceeds. These celebrations are significant because they express the government’s solidarity with an institution that has been accused of being a tool of political vendetta.“The Department of Education has remained a subject of widespread public discussion over the past few years. There is an ecosystem in the country that finds problems in every solution. No matter what you do, these people will inevitably start to find fault. In fact, the foundation of this ecosystem has been shaken ever since Modiji assumed leadership of the country in 2014 and started taking tough decisions in the interest of the country,” the finance minister said.Talking about the ED’s legal challenge, SV Raju said the current understanding of the law is that predicate offenses are like the “umbilical cord” of money laundering offences, but stressed that releasing an accused or filing a closure report in a predicate offense should not end the ED’s investigation as the agency can always share fresh evidence and challenge the verdict as an “injured” party.At the subsequent award ceremony, two assistant director level officers of the ED – Vikram Ahlawat and Prashant Chandila – were among several others who received certificates of commendation.Ahlawat and Chandila were involved in a raid conducted by political consulting firm I-PAC on January 8 in Kolkata. The search operations were disrupted by CM Mamata Banerjee and her senior police officers.
