Courts cannot casually grant bail through cryptic orders in money laundering cases: Supreme Court

The offence of money laundering is considered an aggravated crime world over and courts cannot casually grant bail in money laundering cases by passing cryptic orders, the Supreme Court said on Thursday [Union of India vs Kanhaiya Prasad]..A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Prasanna Varale emphasised that those accused of money laundering have to be treated as a separate class from ordinary criminals."The offence of money laundering has been regarded as an aggravated form of crime world over and the offenders involved in the activity connected with the proceeds of crime are treated as a separate class from ordinary criminals. Any casual or cursory approach by the Courts while considering the bail application of the offender involved in the offence of money laundering and granting him bail by passing cryptic orders without considering the seriousness of the crime and without considering the rigours of Section 45, cannot be vindicated," held the top court.The Bench further underscored that Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) imposes twin conditions to be satisfied for grant of bail in money laundering cases and the said provision has an overriding effect on the general provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure in case of conflict between them."Section 45 imposes two conditions (i) the prosecutor must be given an opportunity to oppose the application for bail; and (ii) the Court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused person is not guilty of such offence and that he is not liable to commit any offence while on bail. As well settled, these two conditions are mandatory in nature and they need to be complied with before the accused person is released on bail," the Bench stated. .The Court dealing with an appeal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging a Patna High Court order, which had granted bail to one Kanhaiya Prasad, an accused in a money laundering case related to the sand mining..The Supreme Court strongly deprecated the "very casual and cavalier manner" in which the Patna High Court had granted bail to Prasad. The apex court stated that without considering the rigours of Section 45, the High Court granted bail to the accused on absolutely extraneous and irrelevant considerations."There is no finding whatsoever recorded in the impugned order that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the respondent was not guilty of the alleged offence under the Act and that he was not likely to commit any offence while on bail. Noncompliance of the mandatory requirement of Section 45 has, on the face of it, made the impugned order unsustainable and untenable in the eye of law," the judgment said.The Court has also said that involvement in any one process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime would constitute offence of money laundering..Hence, it set aside the order passed by the High Court and sent the accused back to custody..Special counsel Zoheb Hossain appeared for ED while Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar appeared for the accused..[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.