The Bombay High Court on Thursday extended protection to senior advocate Anand Grover, founder trustee of the NGO, Lawyers Collective, from appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik was hearing a petition filed by the NGO and Mr. Grover challenging the summons issued by the Central agency on November 6 which directed them to be present on November 26.
The petition said that the current Prevention of Money Laundering Act proceedings initiated by the ED in relation to the Lawyers Collective, and the enforcement case information report were based entirely on the predicate FIR, and there was no new material with the respondents whatsoever.
The court said due to the paucity of time, the protection from appearing before the agency would continue until January 6.
On November 25, Mr. Grover had informed the same court that he had just recovered from COVID-19. The Bench had asked additional solicitor general Anil Singh representing the ED if the appearance before the agency could be deferred. The court said, “We have to respect humanity. We have to respect their age as well.”
The case was filed by the ED after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case against them.
On July 25, 2019, another Bench of the HC stayed coercive steps in the CBI FIR, and said, “There is no material against them.”
The court had then noted that the CBI had relied upon the same inspection report of 2016 on the basis of which the NGO’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) approval was cancelled. “The complaint is based entirely on the predicate FIR, and there is no new material with the respondents whatsoever,” the court had said.
“In the absence of any fresh material being available for registration of the FIR, we deem it expedient to direct the respondents to file a detailed reply placing on record the material justifying the invocation of the provisions of the FCRA 2010,” the HC had said.
