CHENNAI: The Madras HC has struck down the order of a special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases, which postponed the trial of the money-laundering case against a former MLA while holding that the trial in the predicate offence and the PMLA case are distinct and different.
The order was passed by a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and AD Maria Clete while allowing an appeal filed by the ED. The appeal was filed against the order of the Principal Sessions and Special Court for PMLA Cases in Puducherry, which deferred the trial in the case against ex-MLA Ashok Anand on the ground that the appeal against the conviction in the predicate offence is pending the HC.
The bench concluded that the trial court committed “an error” in postponing the trial. “ECIR is born from FIR, but once the ECIR is born, the umbilical cord that connects the ECIR with FIR loses its relevance and the ECIR becomes an independent document in itself,” the bench said.