Sentences Under PCA, PMLA, FERA And Benami Property Law Should Run Consecutively, Not Concurrently: Petition Before SC [Read Petition]

A Petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the sentences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, 1988, The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), And Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) should run consecutively, instead of concurrently.

The Petition, filed by BJP leader and Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay refers to a proposal put forth by Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT on black money, Justice Arijit Pasayat in April, 2016. Justice Pasayat had called for a more stringent PMLA with an increased jail term. He had then cited sentencing policies in the United States where such offenders are sentenced for up to 150 years, and was quoted as saying,

"How I wish we had such sentencing here. Those stealing one rupee and those laundering Rs 300 crore are given the same sentence here... While murder and attempt to murder are predicate offences, tax offences are still not included in the category. If you are evading massive amount of tax, that is murder of the economy which will eventually impact people."

The Petition further points out that the recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2012 have still not been implemented. Besides, it blames cash transactions for corruption and demands that cash transactions above Rs. 10,000 should be "restricted", submitting,

"This is the biggest challenge to handle. Better training and a strong deterrent like immediate punishment can reduce connivance of employees in money laundering process by the bank management. Every suspicious case of money laundering needs to be taken seriously and not wished away by the top management as has been the case during recent times. With rising incidents of corruption in India, cases of money laundering are bound to rise. Need of the hour is to curb instances of money laundering to build a healthy financial system."

The Petition goes on to submit that curbing corruption and money laundering is vital in order to guarantee right to life to the people under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, thereby asserting, "Hence, it is duty of the State to take steps to curb the corruption and money laundering made by illegal means to give a strong message that Government is determined to fight against corruption and black money generation. Executive action should be taken to warn the corrupt that betrayal of the public trust will no longer be tolerated and to reaffirm the rule of law, honesty and transparency."

The Petition then demands that Section 31 (sentence in cases of conviction of several offences at one trial) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 should be declared to be inapplicable to the special laws in question.

It also seeks constitution of a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge for examination of the Anti-Corruption Law, Benami Property Law and Anti-Money Laundering Law of developed countries, and take appropriate steps to implement their best practices. In the alternative, it demands a direction for such examination by the Law Commission of India instead.