CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday reserved orders on petitions filed by DMK MP R Girirajan, praying for the court to issue directions to the Enforcement Directorate to register money laundering cases against seven former AIADMK ministers based on cases of corruption and large-scale misappropriation of public funds registered by the DVAC.
After hearing arguments of the counsels for the petitioner and the ED, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan reserved the orders.
Senior counsel NR Elango, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the ED is duty-bound to act upon money laundering against these ministers since the FIR registered under sections 13 1 (d) and 13 1 (e) of the PC Act for disproportionate assets by the DVAC are on the public domain. He blamed the ED for not proceeding against selected persons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), even though the predicate offence cases are registered by the state agency.
“None of the ministers who were in office between 2016 and 2021 was touched as they (the BJP) are in an alliance with them,” Elango said. “Let them tell what the status is, what they have done in these cases or if they have just closed their eyes.”
The senior counsel said that the PMLA does not mandate a citizen to submit a representation to ED seeking action against someone for money laundering; instead, the agency is duty-bound to act on its own. N Ramesh, special public prosecutor for the ED, stated that the petitioner is a member of parliament and he has no locus standi to file this petition, and so it is not maintainable.
Stating that the petitioner has directly approached the court without submitting any representation to the agency, he said the agency cannot make a disclosure whether it has proceeded against any person or not, because it is not mandated to reveal the contents of the enforcement case information report; and if it does so, it will affect the privacy of persons concerned.
Countering his argument, Elango noted that the ED is putting up a defence for the accused, revealing their mindset.