PMLA Judgment: What’s at Stake?

Stuti Rai and Harini Raghupathy

In the last ten years, the ED has recorded almost 5500 cases under the Act and more than Rs. 1,00,000 crores worth of property has been attached. On the other hand, only twenty three persons have been convicted under the Act since the ED took jurisdiction.


Judgment [Full Text] ⬇️

Money Laundering: Exceptional Procedure for an Unexceptional Offence

Pulkit Goyal

This justification when viewed with reference to the definition of money laundering and wide list of predicate offences in the Act is lacking. Money laundering as a separate offence is best used to tackle criminal activity by organised groups involving large proceeds.


Judgment Summary [Challenge to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act]

Stuti Rai and Harini Raghupathy

Here is a summary of the findings and reasoning of the Court on key provisions of the Act.


ADM Jabalpur Is Dead – Long Live ADM Jabalpur

Prateek Chadha

The judgment in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India has created a situation where the State can arrest anyone without telling them precisely what crime they are supposed to have committed and where no court will be able to release them for an extended period. Differently put, history has repeated itself, and we have arrived back at ADM Jabalpur.


In Deferring To Govt Over The Money Laundering Law, The Supreme Court Has Created A New Normal

Stuti Rai and Harini Raghupathy

In upholding the validity of India’s money laundering law, the Supreme Court on 27 July 2022, created a new normal in the country’s justice system, overturning the basic principles of criminal law, deferring to Parliament and the government and subverting its own powers of independent judicial review.


Podcasts

What went wrong in the Supreme Court’s recent decision concerning the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002? Was it a faulty interpretation of the provisions of the Act? A misplaced application of precedent? A general lack of clarity concerning the principles at play? Shivani Misra of Project 39A speaks to Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi on what the Supreme Court could have done differently while balancing the rights of the individual against the State’s power.


The Supreme Court’s PMLA Judgment: Insights for Defence Lawyers

The recent dismissal of the challenges to the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 has given grounds for much criticism. Irrespective of the controversy surrounding the judgment, it stands to be the law on the question of money laundering for now. In this conversation between Harsh Srivastava and Arshdeep Singh Khurana, we take a detour from the critique and address how the judgment may be used as part of a defence strategy in money-laundering cases. 


The Supreme Court’s PMLA judgment: Undermining the right against self-incrimination?

In this episode concerning the recent decision of the Supreme Court concerning the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, we narrow our focus to the specific issue of self-incrimination addressed in the judgment. Are provisions of the PMLA violative of Article 20(3) of the Constitution? Aditya Mehta talks to Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda, who argued before the Supreme Court  concerning this specific issue.


The Supreme Court’s PMLA judgment: Perspectives on the frailties of the PMLA

Apart from the specific concerns the Supreme Court’s recent judgment on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 raises, there are broader issues raised by this decision which need to be addressed. What is the purpose of having special laws like PMLA in the first place? Are these purposes served by the current framework? Maneka Khanna gets in conversation with Shri Singh to explore these questions.