The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will pronounce on September 5 the order on the plea of former finance minister P. Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate.
A bench of Justices R. Banumathi and A.S. Bopanna also extended interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram till next Thursday, September 5.
The former Union minister offered before the bench to remain in the custody of CBI till Monday. The court refused to comment on it after solicitor-general Tushar Mehta said that extension of remand can only be done before the CBI court.
The bench also directed the ED to place before it in a sealed cover the material which the probe agency wanted to produce for the court's perusal.
The top court said it will decide on the question whether it should look into the documents placed before it by the ED in a sealed cover.
Chidambaram's plea in the apex court challenged the August 20 verdict of Delhi High Court denying him anticipatory bail in the INX Media money laundering case lodged by the ED.
Seeking his custody, the ED said that money laundering is an offence against the 'society and nation' and the case needed custodial interrogation of the former finance minister to unearth the larger conspiracy.
The Enforcement Directorate told the bench that it cannot show the material collected during the probe to Chidambaram at this stage as the evidence related to money trail of layers of money might be erased.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said there is no requirement of 'exposing the materials, sources and evidence to the accused at the stage of pre-arrest bail' and investigation is the exclusive domain of the probe agency.
'Money laundering is an offence against the society and the nation and probe agency has a right and duty to unearth the entire conspiracy,' he told the bench, adding that the apex court has consistently held that economic offences are 'gravest of grave' irrespective of the sentence prescribed for it.
'I have materials to show that laundering of money continued after 2009 and even today (in the INX Media case),' he said, adding that the ED wants to interrogate Chidambaram in custody and without the 'protective umbrella' of anticipatory bail.
The agency had on Wednesday told the court that the former minister was 'playing the victim card' and preventing the ED from arresting him.
'Money laundering is a separate and stand alone offence and person using proceed of crime and using laundered money can equally be held guilty,' Mehta had said.
Referring to provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Mehta had said it provides that material collected during the probe is sent to the adjudicating authority in a sealed cover.
To this, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Chidambaram, responded that they never argued that they wanted access to the material collected by the ED but only said that the agency should put it to the accused and question him on it.
The CBI had lodged an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister. Thereafter, ED lodged a money laundering case.
Written with PTI inputs
