Money laundering Act: Supreme Court agrees to review two aspects from July 27 verdict

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has agreed to a relook at its July 27 verdict which upheld some powers of Enforcement Directorate relating to arrest, investigation, and attachment of property under the PMLA (Prevention of Money laundering Act).
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar also issued notice to the Centre seeking its response on the two issues.
A bench headed by CJI NV Ramana said prima facie two issues- not providing Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), and negation of presumption of innocence (bail, not jail) requires reconsideration.

In its July 27 verdict, the top court had said providing the accused with Enforcement Case Information Report is not mandatory; the ECIR is an internal document of ED and cannot be equated with FIR.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A.M. Singhvi submitted that the entire judgment needs to be reconsidered. However, the top court clarified that only two issues will be considered under the review. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta submitted that review is unlike a writ petition, and all the issues can't be reviewed.
The court has allowed an application by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram seeking an open court hearing of his petition to review the top court's last month's verdict.
(With inputs from agencies)