On the issue of maintainability, the Court observed that it was empowered to entertain cases under exceptional circumstances, like when an order is ex-facie illegal.
As the immovable property in question was purchased in 2004 long before the alleged offences which occurred between January 2021 and November 2022, the Court found that the provisional attachment of property which was purchased before the alleged criminal activity was ultra vires the PMLA and therefore, illegal.
“The provisionally attached immovable property was purchased in 2004 – more than a decade and a half before the predicate offence was allegedly committed, the order attaching the immovable property is ex-facie, ultra vires the powers of the statute and totally illegal and arbitrary to the extent of the said attachment,” the Court added.
The Court, therefore, concluded that the property acquired before the commission of a scheduled offence could not be attached under Section 5 of PMLA as proceeds of crime.
Source: Barandbench
