Supreme Court urged to regulate ED's 'drastic powers' in money laundering cases
New Delhi, July 05: In a hearing related to Gurugram-based realty group M3M under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Supreme Court was informed yesterday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) possesses "drastic powers" in money laundering investigations that need to be regulated.
Senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, representing M3M directors Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, who were arrested in connection with a bribery case involving a former judge, raised concerns about the extent of the ED's authority.
Harish Salve, while representing the realty group's directors, argued, "These are drastic powers given to the ED. If the court does not rein them in, no one is safe in this country. See how the arrest was done. They were cooperating. The arrest was in violation of my rights... These powers need to be reined in."
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The bench, comprising Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh, noted in its order that the Bansal brothers would seek anticipatory bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court and subsequently disposed of their pleas.
The Supreme Court was addressing multiple petitions, including challenges to a recent Delhi High Court decision that declined to intervene in the arrest of M3M directors in the money laundering probe linked to the bribery case involving a former judge.
The Bansal brothers were arrested by the ED on June 14 under the PMLA and were subsequently remanded to five-day ED custody by a special PMLA court in Haryana's Panchkula.
Earlier, on June 9, the High Court had granted interim protection from arrest until July 5 to Basant and Pankaj Bansal in the money laundering case associated with the real estate firm IREO.
The Bansals contended that such custody amounted to illegal detention and was an attempt to circumvent the High Court's order protecting them from coercive action in another money laundering case.
The money laundering case leading to the arrest of the Bansal brothers originated from an FIR filed on April 17 by the Haryana Police Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Sudhir Parmar, a former special judge of the CBI, along with another director of M3M, Roop Kumar Bansal, and another individual.
According to the ED, it received information that Mr. Parmar had shown favoritism toward the accused in a money laundering case involving the real estate firm IREO.
Following the registration of the case by the ACB, the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended Mr. Parmar.
On June 1, the ED conducted raids on the M3M Group, its directors, as well as IREO in Delhi and Gurugram.
In a press statement, the ED alleged that the owners, controllers, and promoters of the M3M Group, including Basant Bansal, Roop Kumar Bansal, and Pankaj Bansal, deliberately evaded investigation during the raids. The agency further alleged that a substantial sum of money, amounting to hundreds of crores, had been siphoned off through the M3M Group in this case.
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- With inputs from agencies
