Oppn expresses 'deep apprehension' over SC upholding PMLA amendments, calls verdict 'dangerous'; demand review

At least 17 Opposition parties including the TMC and AAP on Wednesday expressed deep apprehensions about the longterm implications of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA amendments and strongly pitched for a reviewIn a joint statement the parties said the judgment will strengthen the hands of a government that indulges in political vendetta to target its opponents in a mischievous and malicious manner and expressed hope that this dangerous verdict will be shortlivedWe place on record our deep apprehension on the longterm implications of the recent Supreme Court judgment upholding in entirety the amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 without examining whether some of these amendments could have been enacted by way of the Finance Act the statement saidThe parties said they hold and will always hold the Supreme Court in the highest respectYet we are compelled to point out that the judgment should have awaited the verdict of a larger Bench for examining the constitutionality of the Finance Act route to carry out amendmentsThe opposition leaders said if tomorrow the SC holds that the challenged amendments through Finance Act are bad in law the entire exercise would become futile and lose law then the entire exercise would become futile and lose judicial timeAlso Read Government withdraws Data Protection Bill from Lok SabhaThese farreaching amendments strengthened the hands of a government indulging in the political vendetta of the worst kind by using these very amended laws relating to money laundering and investigation agencies to target its political opponents in a mischievous and malicious manner the opposition parties allegedWe are also very disappointed that the highest judicial authority invited to give an independent verdict on the lack of checks and balances in the Act has virtually reproduced arguments given by the executive in support of draconian amendments We hope that the dangerous verdict will be shortlived and constitutional provisions will prevail soon the opposition leaders said in their joint statementAmong the parties that have signed the joint statement are Congress the TMC DMK AAP NCP Samajwadi Party Shiv Sena CPIM CPI IUML RSP MDMK RJD and RLD among othersSome of the leaders who have signed the joint statement include leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge Sharad Pawar Ram Gopal Yadav Derek OBrien T R Baalu Elamaram Kareem Binoy Viswam Kapil Sibal and Narain Dass GuptaCongresss Jairam Ramesh shared the joint statement on Twitter and said 17 opposition parties plus one independent Rajya Sabha MP have signed a joint statement expressing deep apprehensions on longterm implications of the recent SC judgment upholding amendments to PMLA 2002 and called for its reviewOn July 27 the top court upheld the Enforcement Directorates ED powers relating to arrest attachment of property search and seizure under the PMLAObserving that it is a common experience world over that money laundering can be a threat to the good functioning of a financial system the apex court upheld the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA some of which were contested by over 240 petitioners including Congress MP Karti ChidambaramThe joint statement comes a day after raids were conducted by the ED on the premises of the National Herald newspaper in the national capital and elsewhereCongress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have already been questioned by the probe agency in a money laundering case pertaining to the National Herald newspaper caseCongress has been accusing the government of indulging in vendetta politics in targeting opposition leaders by misusing probe agencies against them