The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed journalist Rana Ayyub’s plea challenging the summons issued by a special PMLA court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case registered against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“We have said under Section 3 PMLA, the place where any of the six activities is carried out.. is the place where the offense of money laundering takes place. The question as to which place is a question of fact decided on the evidence. “We leave it open to raise this issue before the trial court. We are dismissing this petition,” the Bar and Bench quoted a division bench of Justices V Ramasubramaniam and JB Pardiwala as saying.
The journalist’s lawyer Vrinda Grover had earlier argued that the UP court had ‘absolutely no jurisdiction’ as the alleged offense was not committed in the state and was said to have been committed in Mumbai. “The petitioner has never been arrested. Now, he is being dragged into a situation where her safety will be at highest risk. Can her personal liberty be deprived of a process not authorized by law? ” LiveLaw asked quoting the senior advocate.
Rana Ayyub used donation money for personal luxuries, happiness: ED tells Rana Ayyub used donation money for personal luxuries, happiness
Last week, the Supreme Court had reserved its order on a plea challenging the summons issued by a special court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said the prosecution complaint has been filed by the agency in a Ghaziabad court as the cause of action arose in Uttar Pradesh, where several people including Ghaziabad had contributed to the same. crowdfunding campaign.
Ayyub in her writ petition has sought quashing of the proceedings initiated by the ED in Ghaziabad citing lack of jurisdiction, as the alleged offense of money laundering took place in Mumbai.
On November 29 last year, the special PMLA court in Ghaziabad took cognizance of the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) filed by the ED and summoned Ayub. The ED’s charge sheet was filed under Section 45 read with Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. ,
The special court judge had said, “From a perusal of the entire record, there is sufficient evidence to make a prima facie case for taking cognizance of the offense against Ms. Rana Ayyub.”
The ED had filed a charge sheet against Ayyub on October 12 last year, accusing her of defrauding the public and using Rs 2.69 crore in donations to create personal wealth and violating the Foreign Contribution Act.
SC reserves order on journalist Rana Ayyub’s plea against summons in money laundering case SC reserves order on journalist Rana Ayyub’s plea against summons in money laundering case
“Rana Ayyub launched three fundraising charity campaigns on ‘Keto’ platform from April 2020 and collected a total amount of Rs 2,69,44,680,” the ED said in a statement.
It was claimed that the campaigns were to raise funds for slum dwellers and farmers, do relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra, and Ayyub and her team to help people affected by the coronavirus in India.
The ED had claimed, “Ayyub used these money to create a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh for herself and transferred Rs 50 lakh to a new bank account. Investigation found that only Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work.” Rs was used.”