PMLA Attachment
Definition
Under India's Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, the ED can provisionally attach property believed to be proceeds of crime before any conviction. This is the most powerful coercive tool in major fraud cases and operates on a presumption that attached property was criminally derived.
- Statute
- Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (India)
- Executing authority
- Enforcement Directorate (ED)
- Timing
- Provisional, before any conviction
- Legal basis
- Presumption attached property is proceeds of crime
Common questions
What must happen after property is provisionally attached under PMLA?+
The attachment must be placed before the Adjudicating Authority for confirmation within the statutory period, and the property owner can contest it there before the attachment becomes final and enforceable pending trial outcome.
How does a PMLA attachment differ from a normal asset freeze in a criminal case?+
A standard freeze order typically follows or accompanies formal charges, while PMLA attachment can precede conviction entirely and shifts the practical burden onto the property holder to show the asset is not proceeds of crime, which is what makes it an unusually forceful tool.
Related terms
- ED (Enforcement Directorate)
- India's Enforcement Directorate investigates economic offences under FEMA and the PMLA 2002. Its primary tools are property attachment under PMLA and prosecution...
- Parallel Proceedings
- Simultaneous civil and criminal proceedings arising from the same underlying facts, often before different tribunals. A company may face a civil SEC...
- SEC
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission: the federal regulator for securities markets. It has civil enforcement powers, can seek disgorgement, civil penalties,...
- SFIO
- Serious Fraud Investigation Office: a statutory body under India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs that investigates corporate frauds under the Companies Act 2013....
- SFO
- The UK Serious Fraud Office: a department of the Crown that both investigates and prosecutes serious and complex fraud, bribery, and corruption....