The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed a 2018 money laundering case against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Live Law reported.
The Enforcement Directorate had registered the case against the Congress leader based on an enforcement case information report following a complaint filed by the Income Tax department. He was accused of evading tax and being involved in alleged hawala transactions worth crores of rupees.
During the Income Tax raids in 2017, unaccounted cash worth over Rs 7 crore was seized, according to reports. The Enforcement Directorate had issued summons to Shivakumar in 2019 in connection with the raids under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On Tuesday, the top court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan said that the Karnataka High Court’s rationale for rejecting Shivakumar’s plea, to quash summons against him, has been held as “unsustainable” in its recent judgement, Live Law reported.
Shivakumar had moved the top court challenging the High Court’s decision. The High Court had said that the charges of criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code’s Section 120B constituted a stand-alone offence adequate to invoke the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
However, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that criminal conspiracy can be a charge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act only when the conspiracy relates to a crime enlisted as a scheduled offence under the anti-corruption law.
This was said in a November judgement by the Supreme Court. However, on Tuesday, the division bench said that a review petition of the November judgement has been filed by the Enforcement Directorate.
If the review petition is accepted, the High Court order would stand affirmed, allowing the central agency to seek a review or recall the Tuesday order by the Supreme Court if necessary, Live Law quoted Justice Kant as saying.
The central agency had arrested Shivakumar in September 2019. He was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in October 2019.
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