E-Paper
What are Enforcement Directorate's new guidelines for recording statements?
The ED has said that it is following directives from the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court regarding the recording of statements under Section 50.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday issued internal guidelines to its officers about the timing for recording statements, saying that efforts should be made to do so during regular hours for those summoned.
The federal agency has also said that questioning for elderly and sick persons should be strictly limited to regular hours.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that it is following directives from the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court regarding the recording of statements under Section 50 of the PMLA.
To comply with these directions, the ED has issued comprehensive internal guidelines for its officers, including specifics on the timings for recording such statements, the agency said in a statement.
In its communication, ED has mentioned, “It is expected from the authorised officer that they shall be well prepared with copies of documents to be confronted as well as questionnaire to examine the person summoned at appointed date and time. The authorised officer while fixing the date and time of the compliance of the summons should ensure that the person so summoned is taken up for examination on appointed time and date without keeping him waiting for hours.”
The ED has said that due to the nature of money laundering, where individuals can quickly dissipate, transfer, or conceal crime proceeds and destroy digital evidence, investigating officers should aim to complete the examination of summoned individuals promptly, ideally on the same day or the next.
“This approach may minimise the opportunity to the person summoned either to transfer or conceal proceeds of crime or to fabricate make believe and concocted explanations. However, efforts should be made to record statement of person summoned during earthly hours i.e. during office hours rather than stretching it too late at night. In cases of senior citizens, individuals with serious medical condition or individuals who are sick or infirm, examination of such person should be restricted to earthly hours and it would be appropriate to adjourn the examination to next date or any other mutually agreed date as a matter of practice,” ED added in its circular.
In exceptional cases, if there is credible information that a person may conceal or dissipate crime proceeds, destroy evidence, or evade further investigation, an authorised officer may extend statement recording beyond regular hours, said ED.
The officer must document the reason in the case file and obtain approval from the deputy, joint, or additional director, it added.
