The recent Supreme Court verdict clarifying various provisions of the PMLA "strengthens" the hands of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the agency can now attach assets and carry out raids even prior to the registration of the predicate offence, former ED Director Karnal Singh has said.
The apex court on July 27 issued its directives in a 545-page order after hearing a clutch of pleas concerning validity and interpretation of a number of provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the procedure followed by the ED while investigating cases under this stringent criminal law.
Mr. Singh, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, retired as the ED chief in 2018 after heading the federal agency for over three years.
