CHENNAI: Questioning the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seal the premises of film producer Akash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in connection with the alleged Tasmac scam, the Madras High Court has granted a day’s time to the agency to produce the materials, based on which it has proceeded against them, in the court.
A division bench of Justices M S Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan pilloried the central agency over the legality to seal the premises owned by the two persons only because they were not available when it went for a search. The questions were raised while hearing the petitions filed by Ravindran challenging the ED’s action.
“Your people often say the money laundering act (PMLA) is evolving but we find the authorities are evolving by expanding the scope (of powers),” the bench commented.
The ED’s counsel explained that premises were not sealed but notices were pasted to the effect that the premises “shall not be opened”, besides asking them to contact the agency. The counsel said that the agency wanted to search the premises and since no one was available, they had to paste the notices.
Stating that the agency has not even treated them as accused in the money laundering proceedings, the counsel said it has to search the premises based on credible information and independent materials. He also filed a sealed cover to the court.The bench wondered why should the petitioners cooperate with the agency when they are not an accused in the laundering proceedings?
The bench likened the action of the ED to a particular method used by the police, which, the bench said, would arrest the brother of an accused if the latter is not available.