Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002
Sections 3 & 4, 8(6)—Discharge of respondents—Revision—Scheduled offence and proceeds of crime generated therefrom is the very foundation for offence of money laundering—Once a person is discharged or acquitted from scheduled offence, the very foundation gets knocked out and charge of money laundering will not survive as there will be no proceeds of crime—Properties attached under the PMLA cannot legally be treated as proceeds of crime or be viewed as property derived or obtained from criminal activity—Till the judgment of acquittal predicate offence is reversed in an appeal, all the effects of acquittal will continue to operate and mere filing an appeal against acquittal in a predicate offence would not mean that respondents will continue to suffer the rigors of criminal proceedings or attachment under the PMLA—No proceedings under the PML Act could be sustained after the acquittal of respondents in the predicate offence—Special Judge rightly discharged the respondents from the offences under the PML Act—No infirmity found in the impugned order whereby attached movable and immovable properties were directed to be released by the Special Judge—Petition dismissed.
[Paras 28 to 32]