‘God only knows whether he will stick to his statement or not’, Supreme Court reprimanded ED

Supreme Court Schooled ED: Citing the low rate of conviction in money laundering cases, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to focus on the quality of prosecution and evidence. A bench of Justices Suryakant, Dipankar Dutta and Ujjal Bhuiyan, citing a statement made in Parliament, said that the ED should conduct some scientific investigation to increase the conviction rate.

The Union Home Ministry told the Lok Sabha on August 6, 2024 that the ED registered a total of 5,297 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) between 2014 and 2024, while conviction was ensured in 40 cases.

The Supreme Court made this remark while hearing the bail plea of ​​a businessman from Chhattisgarh. The businessman was arrested in a money laundering case related to illegal charges on coal transportation.

‘You need to prove the case in court’

“You need to focus on the prosecution and the quality of evidence. In cases where you are satisfied that a prima facie case is made out, you need to prove it in court,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, appearing for the ED.

‘God only knows what will happen tomorrow…’

The Supreme Court said, “In this case you are insisting on statements, affidavits given by some witnesses. Such oral evidence… God only knows whether that person will stand with this (statements) tomorrow or not. You should do some scientific investigation.” Raju argued that unlike Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, statements are considered as evidence under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

To this, Justice Datta said that under Section 19 of the PMLA, the arresting officer is required to inform the accused of the “reasons to believe” his involvement in the offence and asked the ASG whether he thought the arrest order in the present case was maintainable.

The lawyer gave the example of Kejriwal’s case

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, said that in the case of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the apex court had said that apart from the grounds for arrest, the accused should also be told what are the “reasons to believe” about his involvement in the crime. Rohatgi said that according to the Supreme Court’s decision, there should also be a need for arrest.

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