MUMBAI: Opposing the bail plea of Deepak Kochhar, husband of former CEO of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, the Enforcement Directorate has said that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) adjudicating authority had limited scope concerning provisionally attached properties and could not exonerate the accused from the offence of money laundering.
The defence had cited the authority’s November 6 order rejecting a plea by the ED to confirm its provisional attachment of properties. The bail plea said this in effect showed he had been exonerated in the adjudication proceedings. The ED’s reply submitted before the special PMLA court on Monday, however, said that these proceedings had no bearing on its criminal case. “They are not only different in nature, but also carried out with different objectives at different forums with a different set of procedure,” the ED said.
