ED not expected to be vindictive in its conduct, must furnish grounds of arrest to accused: SC
Enforcement Directorate is not expected to be «vindictive» in its conduct and must act with utmost probity and fairness, the Supreme Court has held, and directed the anti-money laundering agency to henceforth furnish the grounds of arrest to the accused in writing «without exception».
In a significant verdict having far-reaching ramifications, the apex court said being a premier investigating agency charged with the onerous responsibility of curbing the debilitating economic offence of money laundering in the country, every action of the ED in the course of such exercise is expected to be «transparent, above board and conforming to pristine standards of fair play in action».
«The ED mantled with far-reaching powers under the stringent Act of 2002, is not expected to be vindictive in its conduct and must be seen to be acting with utmost probity and with the highest degree of dispassion and fairness,» a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar said.
The top court, which set aside the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well as the arrest memos, ordered forthwith the release of Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty group M3M, in a money laundering case.
The bench delivered its verdict on Tuesday on a plea by the Bansals challenging various orders of the high court, including the one which rejected their bail pleas.
The top court said failure of the accused to respond to the questions put to them by the ED would not be sufficient in itself for the investigating officer to opine that they were liable to be arrested.
«Mere non-cooperation of a witness in response to the summons issued under Section 50 of the (PMLA) Act of 2002 would not be enough to render him/her liable to
