ED directs investigating officers not to summon advocates in case against clients

SC LAWYERS CONTROVERSY

- MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has directed its investigating officers not to issue summons to any advocate in a money laundering investigation being carried out against their client, adding that exception to this rule can only be made after "approval" by the agency's director.

The statement from the federal probe agency came in the wake of the lawyer-client privilege linked controversy that erupted after the ED issued back-to-back summons to senior Supreme Court lawyers Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal for giving legal advice to Care Health Insurance Limited (CHIL) on the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) given to Rashmi Saluja, former chairperson of Religare Enterprises.

The summons was condemned by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA), which called it a "disturbing trend" that struck at the very foundations of the legal profession.