'Junking predicate offence FIR on technicality won't kill PMLA case'

HC division bench says blanket application of SC verdict without due regard to facts of each case shall render both judgment objective of PMLA ineffective

- R SIVAKUMAR

IN a significant judgment that may have implications for a slew of money-laundering cases, the Madras high Court has ruled that mere quashing of the predicate offence FIR on technical or procedural grounds cannot make the money-laundering case, enforcement Case Information Report (eCIR), liable to be quashed.

The judgment was delivered recently by a division bench of justices SM Subramaniam and v Sivagnanam while dismissing the petitions filed by vijayraj Surana and others of the Surana Group of Companies. The petitioners had prayed for the quashing of the eCIR registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) citing the quashing of the predicate offence FIR registered by the CBI by the Karnataka high Court.

The CBI and the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) registered separate cases against the Surana Group of Companies on the charge of siphoning of ₹3,986 crore of loans availed from PSU banks.