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4 Nat'l L.U. Delhi Stud. L.J. 72 (2017)
Not So Civil - The Money Laundering Act and Article 20

handle is hein.journals/nludslj4 and id is 78 raw text is: NOT SO CIVIL - THE MONEY LAUNDERING ACT AND ARTICLE 20 Abhinav Sekhri* In 2016, a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court went against the grain to hold that the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, could only apply prospectively. The decision placed the problematic setup of the money laundering statute in sharp relief and serves to reignite debate surrounding the applicability of the guarantees of constitutional criminal procedure in this context. This paper focuses on two such guarantees under Article 20 of the Indian Constitution - a protection against retrospective imposition of penal liability, and the right against self-incrimination. It is argued that a keener appreciation of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act 2002 provides an arguable case for extending these rights to persons arraigned under the statute. I. INTRODUCTION 31 January 2017 will be marked as the day when the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA) saw its first conviction - an ex-minister of the Jharkhand government was found guilty of money laundering under Section 3 and punished to seven years rigorous imprisonment with an additional fine of Rs. 50,000.2 This conviction was secured nearly twelve years after the PMLA first came into force,3 within which time it had seen bouts of * Advocate, Delhi High Court. I would like to thank Mr. Shri Singh, Advocate, for his inputs, and Mr. Rohan Dhariwal for his invaluable research assistance. Some of these ideas were refined through a moot court competition conducted for the students of National Law University, Delhi, and I remain grateful to all those who participated. 1Mahanivesh Oils & Foods Pvt Ltd v Directorate of Enforcement (2016) 228 DLT 142 (Bakhru J). The decision was immediately appealed - LPA No 144 of 2016, and is being heard currently. On 30 November 2016, the Division Bench passed an interim order holding that none of the observations by the Single Judge were to be considered binding till the appeal was decided. 2 Press Trust of India, 'First Money Laundering Conviction: Jharkhand ex-minister jailed for 7 years' LiveMint (31 January 2017) <http://www.livemint.comi/Politics/7zCEOXMOy0CPDF7rAQZ52H/ First-money-laundering-conviction-Jharkhand-exminister-jai.html> accessed 28 May 2017. 3 The statute came into force vide GSR 436(E), dated 1 July 2005, published in the Gazette of India, Extra, Pt II, Sec 3(i), dated 01.07.2005.

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