New Delhi: The Supreme Court on July 12 held that ED’s purview of power to arrest people is strictly confined within the limit of objective and fair consideration of material evidence against a person. The power to arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cannot be exercised on the “whims and fancies” of Directorate of Enforcement (ED) officers.
The court wondered if the ED even had a consistent, uniform, and ”one-rule-for-all” policy on when they should arrest people. It said the ED’s power to arrest must be based on objective and fair consideration of material against a person.
This significant development occurred in PMLA jurisprudence as the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The court ruled that an Enforcement Directorate officer, acting under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, must consider exonerating evidence and cannot disregard it when making arrests.
Kejriwal was on July 12 granted interim bail in a money laundering case lodged by the ED in the alleged excise policy scam but he will remain in jail as the CBI had arrested him in a related matter
Mr. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 on money laundering charges linked to the now-scrapped excise policy. In its seventh supplementary chargesheet filed before a court here on May 17, the ED called the AAP chief the “kingpin” and “key conspirator” in the case.
“Demolished the Conspiracy hatched by B.J.P”: AAP on SC’s bail to Delhi C.M
The Supreme Court order granting interim bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal had “demolished the so-called liquor scam hatched by the BJP”, AAP leaders said on Friday
Addressing a press conference at AAP headquarters in the Capital, the party’s national secretary (organization) and Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak said, “Some things are written very clearly in it [Supreme Court order]. First, there has been no transaction of any kind. Second, not even a single penny has been recovered from anywhere. Third, Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party have nothing to do with any kind of corruption.”
