Supreme Court verdict on ED powers ‘dangerous’, statement of 17 opposition parties including Trinamool Congress

Abhijit Ray, Kolkata: Seventeen opposition parties made a statement terming the Supreme Court’s verdict on increasing the powers of ED as ‘dangerous’. Opposition parties including the Trinamool (TMC), Shiv Sena, AAP on Wednesday hoped that the verdict would not take effect for long. Even, the joint statement has also said to appeal to the Supreme Court to review this judgment.Last week, the Supreme Court said that the ED has been allowed to conduct arrests, searches and seizure of property in money laundering cases (PMLA). But the accused cannot be arrested at will. Also, the investigating agency is not bound to hand over the copy of the complaint filed by the ED to the accused.The apex court also said that arrests can only be made on the basis of reason at the initial stage of the investigation. According to statistics, the number of ED redundancies has increased 26 times during the Modi government. But the rate of conviction of the accused has decreased considerably.The statement said, “We are very apprehensive about the long-term impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to extend the powers of the ED in money laundering cases. With due respect to the apex court, the apex court should have waited for the judgment of the larger bench and then taken a decision regarding the money laundering case. But we are hopeful, this verdict will not be implemented for a long time.”