The Supreme Court has struck down twin conditions for granting Bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On 7th October 2021, a Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh had passed detailed guidelines regarding grant of bail to accused on the filing of the charge sheet, who were otherwise not arrested) during the course of the investigation. As agreeable to Additional Solicitor General, Mr S.V. Raju and Senior Advocate, Mr Sidharth Luthra, two requisite conditions for the application of the guidelines were set out by the Bench Not arrested during the investigation; and cooperated throughout in the investigation including appearing before the Investigating Officer whenever called.
“We are putting a caution that merely by categorising certain offences as economic offences which may be non-cognizable it does not mean a different meaning is to be given to our order…Our intention was to ease the process of bail… “the Court observed in the order.
The Bench said, “the parties state that they will…work out some fine-tuning required to give meaning to the intent of our order dated 7.10.2021. At this stage, it suffices to say that by referring to Category C Section 45 of PMLA has been mentioned, which has been struck down by this Court. Ld ASG states that an amendment was made which is a pending challenge…and is a matter to be considered by that Bench. We are putting a caution that merely by categorising certain offences as economic offences which may be non-cognizable it does not mean a different meaning is to be given to our order….Our intention was to ease the process of bail…”
The Bench, elucidating on its intention to encourage grant of bail, asked the parties involved in the matter to collectively decide and enumerate the clarification they seek from the Court.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
