<h1>Authorised officer must issue formal order before retaining seized or frozen property up to 180 days under PMLA</h1> The Delhi High Court held that under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act an authorised officer must first issue a formal order explaining why retention of seized or frozen property for up to 180 days is necessary before the adjudicating authority can lawfully permit retention, stressing that search, seizure, freezing, attachment and retention procedures contain built-in safeguards and judicial/quasi-judicial oversight to prevent arbitrary action. The court reiterated that statutory methods must be strictly followed and upheld an appellate tribunal's refusal to allow retention where the retention process did not conform to the PMLA scheme; the dispute arose from alleged money-laundering through infusion of cash into corporate accounts.