The Special Court, while acquitting all the accused persons in the 2G Spectrum allocations case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), appeared to have failed to appreciate several factors that positioned money laundering as a standalone offence, said the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday. The agency will appeal against the acquittals.
Highlighting the specific issues, the Directorate said the “proceeds of crime” as defined under Section 2(1)(u) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), considers only the criminal activity, instead of the commission of an offence.
“The acquittal by the court in PMLA prosecution by interpreting the term criminal activity to the extent of commission of an offence appears to be erroneous,” said the ED.
The Directorate said the court had appreciated the material evidence related to the offence of money laundering at the time of framing of charges against the accused persons, but the same material appeared to have not been considered while deciding the prosecution complaint under PMLA.
The accused persons were acquitted only on the basis that there was no commission of offence and “not the occurrence of criminal activity”, the agency said.
The ED has decided to appeal against the judgment on a “number of grounds based on the facts as well as legal provisions”.
