Lift stay on PMLA proceedings against Virbhadra’s children: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday urged the Delhi High Court to vacate its order staying proceedings against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's two children in a money laundering case.

The submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal by ED which said that the ‘action’ by them was “well within confines of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).”

“They (ED) have registered Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI, as per law. The petitioners (Virbhadra Singh’s two children) name did not figure in the FIR and hence was not mentioned in ECIR,” Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, who appeared for ED, claimed in the affidavit.

“The schemes of the Act, as it now operated, was directed not only against the persons and judicial entities which are prosecuted for scheduled offence by various agencies like CBI, Customs, SEBI etc, but also operates qua persons who conceal, possess, acquire, use and project or claim proceeds of crime,” the affidavit claimed.

The agency further submitted that all of their “actions and investigation have been as per law and as prescribed by the PMLA”.