The Appellate Tribunal dismissed the appeals, confirming the attachment of ₹5.5 crore in assets belonging to an IAS officer’s family, ruling that the properties were acquired using laundered bribe money from the coal levy scam. Citing the Supreme Court’s precedent, the Tribunal held that even pre-offence assets can be attached as value-equivalent proceeds of crime under PMLA.
The Appellate Tribunal upheld the ED’s attachment of a resort property, ruling it a benami transaction designed to circumvent the law, especially after media scrutiny over CRZ violations. The court found that the beneficial owner’s act of guaranteeing the benamidar’s loan used for the property purchase confirmed the beneficial control.
The SAFEMA Tribunal upheld the attachment of land registered in a tribal’s name, finding it a benami transaction under the amended Act. The ruling confirmed that purchasing restricted tribal land using funds provided by a non-tribal beneficial owner for future commercial resort development is illegal circumvention.
The Tribunal upheld the ED’s attachment of ₹4.04 crore worth of properties acquired through extortion and land grabbing. The ruling confirms that merely filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) is insufficient to establish a lawful income source when no supporting business evidence or financial trail exists for the claimed income.
An Appellate Tribunal upheld the ED’s provisional attachment of properties in a major fraud case. The ruling confirmed that the 2009 amendment to Section 5(1) of PMLA permits property attachment even if the owners are not formally charged, provided attachment is necessary to prevent asset concealment.
The Tribunal confirmed the attachment of properties linked to a large Ponzi scheme, finding the alleged unregistered sale agreement with a massive cash component highly suspicious and likely ante-dated. The ruling emphasized that the genuineness of such transactions is highly questionable in PMLA cases.
The Tribunal set aside the freezing of bank accounts and seizure of assets under PMLA, ruling that the Enforcement Directorate’s failure to provide the fundamental FIR documents violated statutory procedure. The key takeaway is that FIRs are essential Relied Upon Documents for PMLA proceedings and their non-supply vitiates the entire adjudication order.
The Appellate Tribunal upheld the attachment of two plots of land, ruling the cash-paid transactions were benami because the appellant failed to prove the source of consideration. The ruling confirmed that the funds were provided by an unidentified person, satisfying the test under PBPTA Section 2(9)(D).
The legal issue was whether property acquired before the predicate offense date can be attached as a value-equivalent under PMLA. The Tribunal confirmed the attachment, ruling that pre-offence property can be attached to secure the vanished proceeds of crime. Key Takeaway: PMLA’s definition of proceeds of crime includes equivalent value property, overriding the acquisition timeline when actual proceeds are untraceable.
The Appellate Tribunal set aside the Adjudicating Authority’s revocation and confirmed the benami attachment on a ₹9.5 lakh transaction that occurred during demonetisation. The transaction was found to be an accommodation entry where cash was deposited into an account and immediately transferred to a firm against commission.
