NEW DELHI: Considering the ‘national interest’, the Supreme Court on Thursday extended the tenure of the Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sanjay Kumar Mishra till September 15. The court, however, clarified that no further application seeking an extension will be entertained.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol passed the order while hearing the Centre’s application. The Centre on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to extend the tenure of Mishra till October 15, in view of the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the Supreme Court that it is an extraordinary circumstance and urged the court to extend the tenure of SK Mishra as ED Director till October 15.
“Such plea is giving a picture that your entire department is incompetent and there is only one competent person and the department cannot function without one person”, the SC remarked, questioning, “Is it not demoralising the entire force?” Justice B R Gavai, who is heading the bench, also remarked, “If tomorrow he doesn’t come, will the Supreme Court collapse?”
Replying to this, Tushar Mehta said that no one is indispensable and urged the court to accept the Centre’s plea. S G Mehta said the continuity of ED Director’s tenure would help the country.
The SG urged the apex court to extend the ED director’s tenure to October 15 at least on the ground that the FATF review will put questions and they have to answer. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju apprised that there is a terror financing issue.
The court sought to know whether terror financing is in money laundering. Mehta replied that terror financing is also a part and apprised the court that there are countries on the grey list such as Pakistan.
The Petitioner’s counsel asked not to bring Pakistan into the hearing. The SG responded that he is not comparing with Pakistan as the country is not comparable. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Anoop George Chaudhary, appearing for the petitioner in the matter opposed the plea.
The Centre, in its plea to the Supreme Court, said that it may be permitted to extend the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra in view of the ongoing FATF Review which is at a critical stage where submissions on effectiveness have been made on July 21 and an on-site visit is scheduled to be conducted in November 2023.
“At such a critical juncture, it is essential to have an individual who is well-acquainted with the overall status of money laundering investigations and proceedings across the country and also the intricacies of the procedures, operations and activities of the investigating agency, at the helm of affairs at the Directorate of Enforcement. This is necessary to ensure that the assessment team can be promptly and ably assisted with necessary reports, information, statistics etc”, the Centre said in the plea.
The Centre said that any transition in leadership at the Directorate of Enforcement at this stage, would significantly impair the ability of the agency to provide necessary assistance to and co-operation with the assessment team and thereby adversely impact India’s national interest.
On July 11, the Supreme Court held that the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra was illegal and he would continue to serve in the post till July 31, 2023.
The Centre, in its application, apprised the top court the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body which has developed its recommendations to prevent and combat money laundering and terror financing. About 200 countries including India, have committed to implementing these standards.
The FATF conducts peer reviews of all its member countries on a regular basis to assess levels of implementation of its recommendations. These peer reviews or mutual evaluation assess technical compliance with FATF recommendations and reviews the level of effectiveness of a country’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system.
According to the application, India is currently being assessed in the fourth round of mutual evaluations. The mutual evaluation of the country was postponed to 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre said.
The Indian Mutual Evaluation has already commenced and the written submissions have been made on July 21 2023. Centre said that next two to three months the assessors will be seeking clarifications and leadership at a very senior level is required to respond to their queries.
The assessors are likely to visit India for a period of three weeks starting November 3 2023. The onsite assessment involves having detailed meetings with officers investigating and prosecuting money laundering offences, officers of FIU, regulators and reporting entities and would require a high level of coordination at senior levels. Several presentations on technical topics would also be required to be made, the Centre said.
The government said that the intricacies of complex money laundering investigations may also need to be explained to them, which can be done only by a person with hands-on experience. “Since Enforcement Directorate is the only money laundering agency in India, its role in the presentation of the effectiveness of anti-money laundering provision and administration before the assessor is very significant and important from a national interest perspective”, the Centre said.
On July 11, the Supreme Court held that the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra was illegal and he would continue to serve in the post till July 31, 2023.
However, it had rejected the plea to the extent of challenging the amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission Act (CVC) and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPEA). The court made it clear that it rejects the plea to the extent of challenging the amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol passed the order on various petitions challenging the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
The court was hearing petitions challenging the Centre decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the government has extended the third tenure of director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra. Among the petitioners were Jaya Thakur and others. (ANI)