Writ not maintainable as order passed by Adjudicating Authority is appealable before Appellate Tribunal

Gold Croft Properties Pvt Ltd Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Delhi High Court)

Delhi High Court held that writ petition filed is not maintainable as per provisions of section 26 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) an appeal is to be filed before the Appellate Tribunal against any Order passed by the Adjudicating Authority.

Facts- The State Bank of India lodged a complaint alleging that the accused had committed diversion of funds for purposes other than the funds were availed from the State Bank of India. An FIR was registered by CBI for the commission of the alleged offence u/s. 409, 420 r/w Section 120B of IPC, 1860 and Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

It was stated that the Appellant was not named as an accused in the aforesaid FIR. The Respondent/Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered an ECIR against the Appellant and other accused persons. A Provisional Attachment Order was passed u/s. 5(1) of the PMLA, 2002. Original Complaint was filed by the Respondent/Enforcement Directorate before the Adjudicating Authority for adjudication of the complaint and for passing Orders by confirming the Provisional Attachment Order (PAO).

The Petitioner, thereafter, filed an application, from which the instant proceedings arise, before the Adjudicating Authority contending that the quorum of the Adjudicating Authority is not functional in terms of Section 2 of the PMLA, 2002 and  that the Petitioner has not been supplied with a copy of ‘Reasons to Believe’ by the Respondent/Enforcement Directorate because of which the Provisional Attachment Order has been passed under Section 5(1) of the PMLA. The said application was rejected by the Adjudicating Authority by an Order dated 25.01.2023.

Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.