NEW DELHI: In a big relief for Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivkumar, with the Supreme Court in its order on Tuesday quashed the 2018 money laundering case against him, afte noting that no case was made out against him by the ED.
While allowing Shivakumar's appeal, a two-judge bench of the Top Court, headed by Justice Surya Kant and also comprising Justice K V Viswanathan, said, "In absence of any conspiracy for commission of any scheduled offence, no proceeds of crime, as defined in Section 2(u) can be said to exist. Consequently, ex-facie, Section 3 of PMLA cannot apply."
Initially, the Karnataka High Court in its order in 2019 had rejected his plea seeking quashing of the summons issued to him by the central probe agency, Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear for the agency in the money laundering case.
Challenging this order Shivakumar had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court and sought quashing of the case.
The ED had issued summons in February 2019 to accused, Shivakumar to appear before it.
He claimed in the Top Court that he is facing illegal proceedings without any jurisdiction of the ED. "The case against him is erroneously registered," he said.
The Income Tax Department had in 2017 conducted searches at various premises in Delhi. After getting a complaint from the IT, the ED registered a case against Shivkumar and started probing his role in a money laundering case.
The petitioner, Shivkumar claimed before the Karnataka HC and also in the Top Court that he is facing illegal proceedings initiated by the ED. The agency's probe against him under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 was wrong and illegal.