Proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, involve the investigation of money laundering, the attachment of property alleged to represent the proceeds of crime, and prosecution before the designated Special Courts. Afentis Legal represents individuals and entities across the full arc of PMLA proceedings — summons and investigation, provisional attachment, adjudication, trial, and appeal. The firm’s counsel have appeared in significant PMLA matters and understand the distinctive procedural and evidentiary architecture the statute establishes.
The firm approaches PMLA matters with attention to the statute’s particular features: the reverse burden, the twin conditions for bail, the concept of proceeds of crime, and the dependence of the money-laundering charge on a scheduled predicate offence. The defence is built at each stage on the specific statutory requirements the authority and the court must satisfy, from the recording of reasons for attachment to the establishment of the predicate offence.
Service Spectrum
- Representation during investigation, summons, and recording of statements
- Challenges to provisional attachment of property representing alleged proceeds of crime
- Representation before the Adjudicating Authority under the PMLA
- Appeals before the Appellate Tribunal and the High Courts
- Bail applications addressing the twin conditions under Section 45
- Defence at trial before the Special Court
- Challenges linking the money-laundering charge to the scheduled predicate offence
- Special Leave Petitions before the Supreme Court in PMLA matters
Firm’s Approach
The firm’s PMLA practice is reinforced by its economic-offences and revenue expertise, which is central to contesting the identification and tracing of proceeds of crime. The defence examines the foundational allegation — the existence and proof of the predicate offence — as a first line of contest, and scrutinises the attachment and adjudication for compliance with the statute’s procedural safeguards. Bail under the twin conditions is argued on the specific material available, with the record marshalled to meet the statutory threshold.