Let’s carefully analyse and get the answer to the question:
Offences under PMLA are ‘scheduled’ and ‘predicate’ offences. Scheduled offences are the offences listed in the schedule to the PMLA, 2002. This includes specific offences under various Acts like Indian Penal Code (“IPC”) Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (“NDPS”) Act, Companies Act, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act, Wildlife Protection Act, and several others. Further, authorities under PMLA cannot prosecute a person based solely on the notion that an offence is a scheduled offence, a scheduled offence must be a predicate offence; which means it should be registered with the jurisdictional police and/or competent authorities for the PMLA Act to come into picture. Currently, offences under GST are not considered predicate/scheduled offences.
Source: Barandbench
