The Supreme Court of India held that the conditions under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) is applicable to Anticipatory Bail applications for Money Laundering Offence.
A FIR was registered by Economic Offences Wing (EOW), wherein 20 persons/companies were named as suspected in the said scam. M/s Max Mantena Micro JV, Hyderabad was one among them. According to the ED, a search operation was conducted under the provisions of Section 17(1) of PMLA, 2002.
Accordingly, 18 premises were searched including the residences of the promoters and offices of M/s Mantena Constructions Ltd and a good number of incriminating documents and digital devices have been seized and are being examined for evidence.
That respondent No. 1, M. Gopal Reddy, who at the relevant time was the Additional Chief Secretary in the Water Resources Department in the State of Madhya Pradesh, was summoned by the ED to explain the sudden spurt in the allocation of tenders to M/s Mantena Construction during his stint in the State of MP.
That apprehending his arrest in connection with ED case for the scheduled offence under the Act, 2002, respondent No. 1 herein approached the High Court by way of present anticipatory bail application under Section 438 Cr.PC. Without considering the rigour/bar under Section 45 of the Act, 2002 and observing that as per the decision of this Court in the case of Nikesh Tarachand Shah Vs. Union of India and Anr, the High Court allowed the anticipatory bail application and has directed that in case of his arrest in connection with ED case he be released on bail.
A Bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar made the much relevant observation that conditions under Section 45 of PMLA is applicable to Anticipatory Bail applications for Money Laundering Offence while setting aside an order of the Telangana High Court which observed that rigours of Section 45 PMLA are not applicable to anticipatory bail applications.
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