The Ministry of Finance has notified that the attachment of property during PMLA investigation to be valid till 365 days instead of 90 days from 20.03.2019.
As per the Notification issued last day said that the amendment introduced in the Finance Act, 2019 to make property attachments made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA ) during an investigation will remain valid for a period of one year, as against the existing limit of 90 days, will be implemented from 20th March 2019.
As per the amended provision, for the purposes of computing the period of three hundred and sixty-five days under clause (a), the period during which the investigation is stayed by any court under any law for the time being in force shall be excluded.
The Finance Bill proposes amendments to the PMLA of 2002, which would give the ED at least nine extra months to complete its investigations.
This comes a time when the ED is attaching properties of fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti are also under the ED scanner under the PMLA Act in the INX media case. Karti Chidambaram’s assets have been attached.
