Combating Money Laundering In India: An Analysis Of PMLA
- IJLLR Journal
- 23 hours ago
- 1 min read
Kishan Raj, Amity Law School, Amity University Patna
ABSTRACT
Money laundering is the process of incorporating the proceeds of crime into the legitimate financial system and this creates a basic problem for the integrity of the economic institutions and the effectiveness of the criminal law enforcement. The main law in India to combat this phenomenon is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), which has been amended several times and has given rise to a significant amount of problematic jurisprudence. The paper is a critical analytical study of the definitional framework of the PMLA, the powers of the Enforcement Directorate, the obligation on reporting entities and the safeguards of procedures in the case of an accused person. The paper also assesses the alignment of the Indian framework with the recommendations of Financial Action Task Force, and the major structural issues that remain and cause obstacles in effective anti-money laundering enforcement, such as the failure to prosecute predicate offences, issues of beneficial ownership opacity and the conflict between investigative powers and constitutional guarantees. It ends with suggestions for specific legislative and institutional changes.
Keywords: Money laundering, PMLA, Enforcement Directorate, Proceeds of crime, FATF compliance
