In a recent case, Southern Agrifurne Industries v. The Assistant Director, the Madras High Court declined to get involved in the proceedings that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had started against a private company, stating that courts shouldn’t get in the way of ongoing investigations by investigation agencies.
On December 19, a writ petition that sought to prevent the ED from moving forward with its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed against a private company, Southern Agrifurane Industries, in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was dismissed by a bench of Justices PN Prakash and N Anand Venkatesh.
The court ruled that the existence of prima facie evidence supporting the ED’s contention that the scheduled offence produced proceeds of crime was sufficient justification for the agency to open a PMLA investigation. It added that its main responsibility was to make sure that ED wasn’t abusing its authority.
This news is written by Ms. Amrita Singh, Research Assistant, All India Legal Forum.
ALL INDIA LEGAL FORUM 