The Enforcement Directorate has approached the Supreme Court raising grievances against the alleged non-cooperation of Tamil Nadu in sharing criminal complaints and first information reports (FIRs) concerning offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Enforcement Directorate also prayed that the investigation into the bribery allegations against its officer Ankit Tiwari, be transfered to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The case is currently being investigated by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).
In its petition before the apex court, the Enforcement Directorate stated that it is approaching the court to protect the fundamental rights of the victims of money laundering in Tamil Nadu since the central agency is unable to investigate such offences owing to non-sharing of information of scheduled offences. A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan is scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.
Earlier in December, the Madras High Court had dismissed the bail plea lodged by ED officer Ankit Tiwari. He was arrested by the DVAC after allegedly having been caught accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a doctor in Dindigul.
Ankit Tiwari was remanded to judicial custody on December 1, 2023 after the DVAC asserted that he had threatened the doctor and had demanded Rs 3 crore to close the pending cases against him. Furthermore, the DVAC alleged that the ED officer agreed to an amount of Rs 51 lakh and the doctor had paid him Rs 20 lakh. Nonetheless, Ankit Tiwari has claimed that the case against him is mala fide.
The Enforcement Directorate in its plea stated that the State has a deliberate design in not cooperating by conspicuously averting the ED from accessing first information reports (FIRs), and not even uploading them in public domain.
The petition added that whenever a case is registered by the Police, an FIR should be registered and a copy of the same has to be forwarded to the jurisdictional magistrate. It added that the FIR should also be uploaded on the prescribed website so that any person who desires to see the same has access to it.
It further contended that by not uploading FIRs in sensitive matters, Tamil Nadu is clogging the system. The plea underlined that in the fight against crime and to meet the desired objectives of PMLA, it becomes essential that the respective State Police provide to the ED the copies of FIRs and other related documents.