A scheduled/ predicate offence is a crime which is a component of larger crime and an offence like money laundering begins with an offence under the Indian Penal Code, which is considered the predicate offence.
Justice Vikas Mahajan held that a scheduled offence and proceeds of crime generated through it are the very foundation of the offence of money laundering and once a person is discharged or acquitted with respect to the scheduled offence, the very foundation gets knocked out.
“Concomitantly, the properties attached under the PMLA cannot legally be treated as proceeds of crime or be viewed as property derived or obtained from criminal activity,” the Court said.
It ruled that mere filing of an appeal against acquittal in a predicate offence would not mean that the accused will continue to suffer the rigors of criminal proceedings or attachment under the PMLA.
“There is also no substance in the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner/ED that an appeal preferred against the order of acquittal is a continuation of the proceedings before the Trial Court, inasmuch as it is trite law that in the context of criminal proceedings, the trial concludes when the same results in acquittal, though in the case of conviction the trial is concluded against the convicted accused with the imposition of sentence,” the Court made it clear.
Source: Barandbench
