The High Court of Karnataka has dismissed a petition which had claimed that police officers of the Karnataka cadre, who were deputed to the Enforcement Directorate, had no authority in law to register the case of money laundering against I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group and proceed to provisionally attach the assets of the company and the accused persons.
Justice K. Natarajan passed the order while dismissing a petition filed by Abbas Mohammed Khan, an accused in the criminal case registered in relation to IMA scam.
Though the two officers, who are deputed to the post of the deputy director and the assistant director, ED Bengaluru, belong to the Karnataka cadre, the court said these officers get the authority in law to discharge the functions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act soon after the Central government appointed them, on deputation, to the respective posts in the ED while exercising its power of appointment under the PML Act.
Refusing to accept the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner that the Central Government has not authorised the two officers to act under the PMLA act, the court said that there is no requirement in law to issue separate authorisation in respect of deputy director and assistant direct to discharge the duties assigned to these posts under the Act.
The High Court also refused to interfere with the cognizance of offence taken against the accused by the special court while holding that the special court was not required to give a detailed reasoning while taking cognizance as it was acting on a investigation report filed by the officer of the ED.
