{"id":123872,"date":"2022-08-31T18:15:28","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T12:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=123872"},"modified":"2022-08-30T19:26:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T13:56:05","slug":"prevention-of-money-laundering-act-pmla-2002-meaning-amendments-issues-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/government\/prevention-of-money-laundering-act-pmla-2002-meaning-amendments-issues-and-more","title":{"rendered":"Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002: Meaning, Amendments, Issues and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the concept of Money Laundering?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Money laundering is a serious misconduct in which a person attempts to conceal their unlawful source of revenue via legal ways. For example, proceeds from drug trafficking can be utilised to offset the cost of opening a restaurant.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Money laundering is a horrific crime that harms the country&#8217;s social and economic foundation and fosters other significant offences like terrorism and drug trafficking, which have recently increased in India. It is a developing issue that must be addressed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), enacted in 2002, has undergone several crucial amendments to strengthen its ability to combat the crime of money laundering.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Several challenges have been filed around the country, calling into doubt the Enforcement Directorate&#8217;s nearly unlimited powers under the PMLA to search, seize, investigate, and attach assets regarded as proceeds of crime.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Money laundering is the transformation or fabrication of money obtained unlawfully through illicit sources and techniques.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is a punishable crime in India, and the charges, in this case, are based on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The PMLA was implemented in response to India&#8217;s international commitment (Vienna Convention) to combat money laundering. These are some examples:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The United Nations General Assembly approved a Political Declaration and a Global Program of Action in 1990.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Convention Concerning Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of the United Nations\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendation on Money Laundering.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Individuals, businesses, organisations, partnership firms, associations of persons or incorporations, and any agency, office, or branch owned or managed by any preceding are all covered by the PMLA.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What are the recent PMLA Amendments?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Clarification of the Proceeds of Crime Position<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Proceeds of Crime encompass the property generated from the scheduled offence, and any additional property acquired or earned while engaging in any criminal conduct related to or equivalent to the scheduled offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Redefining Money Laundering<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Money laundering was not a separate crime but a consequence of another, designated as the predicate or scheduled offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The amendment tries to make money laundering a separate offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to Section 3 of the PMLA, a person is accused of money laundering if they are directly or indirectly involved in the profits of a crime.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Concealment<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Possession<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Using or portraying as genuine property<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Claiming to be an untainted property<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Continuing Nature of Offence<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As this crime continues, the individual will be regarded as participating in the offence of money laundering until that person receives the fruits of money laundering operations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What are the issues with the PMLA Amendments?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Possible Violation of Powers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Because the &#8220;process is itself the penalty,&#8221; the PMLA might be used against a political opponent or dissenter.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Problems with ECIR<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0The ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report), an analogue of the FIR, is treated as an &#8220;internal document&#8221; and is not provided to the accused.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Throughout the proceedings, the accused is unaware of the facts of the claim against him because the sole document containing the complaint is the ECIR, which is not provided to the accused.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">PMLA differs from General Criminal Procedure:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Every accused is presumed innocent unless proven guilty under general criminal law.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">However, under the PMLA, the burden of proof has been moved to the accused; they must establish their innocence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Accused-Bound to be a Witness<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Section 63 of the PMLA specifies that the accused must provide information; providing incorrect information or no information is another offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The right to self-incrimination is violated when the accused is forced to testify against themselves.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the concept of Money Laundering? Money laundering is a serious misconduct in which a person attempts to conceal their unlawful source of revenue via legal ways. For example, proceeds from drug trafficking can be utilised to offset the cost of opening a restaurant. Money laundering is a horrific crime that harms the country&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21834,"featured_media":124160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12202,12197,12238,12420,4,11315,26,12375],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-123872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"category-controversial","9":"category-crime","10":"category-economy","11":"category-government","12":"category-india","13":"category-society","14":"category-money"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21834"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123872"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124161,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123872\/revisions\/124161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}