PMLA prosecution may proceed independently of predicate offence settlement, with laundering treated as a continuing offence.

Prosecution under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 was treated as capable of proceeding independently of settlement or quashing of the predicate offence. The amended provisions of Sections 3 and 44 were relied upon to state that the date of commission of the predicate offence is not decisive and that projecting proceeds of crime as untainted is a continuing offence. On that basis, the grounds based on the predicate offence being settled, quashed, or predating the scheduled offence were rejected, and the criminal proceedings were allowed to continue.

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Issues: Whether the criminal proceedings under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 were liable to be quashed on the grounds that the predicate offence had been settled and quashed, and that the alleged predicate offence pre-dated the inclusion of the scheduled offence.

Analysis: The amendment to Sections 3 and 44 of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 was relied upon to hold that prosecution under the Act can proceed independently of the result of the predicate offence. The amendment also clarifies that the date of commission of the predicate offence is not decisive and that projecting proceeds of crime as untainted constitutes a continuing offence. On that basis, the grounds urged for quashing were rejected.

Conclusion: The petition for quashing was not sustainable and the criminal proceedings were permitted to continue.

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