Centre seeks extension of ED director tenure in view of ongoing FATF Review

New Delhi [India], July 26 : The Centre on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to extend the tenure of Enforcement Directorate Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra till October 15, in view of the ongoing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review.
The Centre, in its plea to the Supreme Court, said that it may be permitted to extend the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra in view of the ongoing FATF Review, which is at a critical stage where submissions on effectiveness have been made on July 21, 2023, and an on-site visit is scheduled to be conducted in November 2023.
"At such a critical juncture, it is essential to have an individual who is well-acquainted with the overall status of money laundering investigations and proceedings across the country and also the intricacies of the procedures, operations, and activities of the investigating agency, at the helm of affairs at the Directorate of Enforcement. This is necessary to ensure that the assessment team can be promptly and ably assisted with necessary reports, information, statistics, etc.," the centre said in the plea.
The Centre said that any transition in leadership at the Directorate of Enforcement at this stage, would significantly impair the ability of the agency to provide necessary assistance to and co-operation with the assessment team and thereby adversely impact India's national interest.
Early in the morning, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta apprised the Supreme Court that the Centre is moving an application seeking an extension of the tenure of Enforcement Directorate Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai agreed to hear it tomorrow.
On July 11, the Supreme Court held that the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra was illegal and he would continue to serve in the post till July 31, 2023.
Centre in its application apprised the top court the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body which has developed its recommendations to prevent and combat money laundering and terror financing. About 200 countries including India, have committed to implementing these standards.
FATF conducts peer reviews of all its member countries regularly to assess levels of implementation of its recommendations. These peer reviews or mutual evaluation assess technical compliance with FATF recommendations and reviews the level of effectiveness of a country's Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system.
According to the application, India is currently being assessed in the fourth round of mutual evaluations. The mutual evaluation of the country was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre said.
The Indian Mutual Evaluation has already commenced and the written submissions have been made on July 21 2023. Centre said that in next two to three months the assessors will be seeking clarifications and leadership at a very senior level is required to respond to their queries.
The assessors are likely to visit India for three weeks starting November 3, 2023. The onsite assessment involves having detailed meetings with officers investigating and prosecuting money laundering offences, officers of FIU, regulators and reporting entities and would require a high level of coordination at senior levels. Several presentations on technical topics would also be required to be made, Centre said.
The government said that the intricacies of complex money laundering investigations may also need to be explained to them, which can be done only by a person with hands-on experience.
"Since Enforcement Directorate is the only money laundering agency in India, its role in the presentation of the effectiveness of anti-money laundering provision and administration before the assessor is very significant and important from a national interest perspective," the Centre said.
Terming the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra as illegal, SC rejected the plea to the extent of challenging the amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission Act (CVC) and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPEA). The court made it clear that it rejects the plea to the extent of challenging the amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol passed the order on various petitions challenging the extension of the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
The court was hearing petitions challenging the Centre decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the government has extended the third tenure of director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra.
Among the petitioners were Jaya Thakur and others.