A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi on Wednesday framed charges against Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, paving the way for the trial in a money laundering case related to an alleged 8.86-acre land fraud, people familiar with the matter said.
The case pertains to the alleged illegal acquisition and transfer of the land in the Bargain area of the state capital. Besides Soren, 16 others are also made accused.
The development came hours after the Jharkhand High Court refused to entertain Soren’s plea seeking immediate stay on the trial court’s proceedings.
ED counsel Amit Kumar Das said, “The court has framed charges against Hemant Soren under Section 3 of the PMLA. The matter has now successfully entered the evidence stage. Further proceedings will continue after the court fixes the next date.”
Soren’s defence counsel, Sanjeev Kumar said, “The charge has been framed against Hemant Soren and November 30 has been fixed for further consideration and evidence.” Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), defines the criminal offence of money laundering. The provision dictates that any individual who directly or indirectly attempts to indulge, knowingly assists, or becomes a party to any activity connected with the “proceeds of crime” including its concealment, possession, acquisition, or active use and projects or claims the illicit asset as completely untainted property, is legally guilty of money laundering.
A civil court advocate present during the framing of the charge said that the CM appeared virtually before the court and the court read out the charges.
{{/usCountry}}A civil court advocate present during the framing of the charge said that the CM appeared virtually before the court and the court read out the charges.
{{/usCountry}}“Special PMLA Court Judge Yougesh Kumar read out the charges to Soren, who appeared virtually via video conferencing. Soren firmly pleaded innocence against all allegations at the time of framing the charge,” the advocate said, asking not to be named.
While the primary trial moves forward, a critical constitutional battle has begun in the high court. Defence counsel Sanjeev Kumar said they explicitly challenged the constitutionality of Section 44(1)(d) of the PMLA Act within Soren’s writ petition before the high court.
“We have challenged the constitutionality of sub section 1 (d) of Section 44. The court has issued notice. The court will consider the legality once the reply of notices comes,” he said.
A high court advocate close to the matter said that Section 44(1)(d) mandates that a Special PMLA Court must try the scheduled offence and the money laundering offence together. Taking immediate cognizance of this legal challenge, the High Court issued notices to the Central Government and the Enforcement Directorate to submit their formal responses.
”The matter was heard on Wednesday in the division bench headed by Chief Justice MS Sonak. The matter will be heard again on October 28 and the court has fixed October 20 as the deadline to file a response,” the high court advocate said.