A time-barring provision in the legislation to prevent money laundering can aid offenders and cause huge losses to the exchequer, the chief of the adjudicating arm of the enforcement directorate (ED) has warned.
The adjudicating authority formed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 must confirm the ED’s provisional attachment of properties of persons indicted in money laundering cases within 150 days, failing which the attached properties get vacated.
A finance ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that adjudicating authority chairman PK Mishra had written to the finance ministry that attached properties worth 168 crore of B Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of Satyam, were confirmed just a day before the deadline. A failure to confirm ED’s attachment could have prompted Raju’s family to liquidate the properties.
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