Tamil Nadu government appeals to SC: opposes Enforcement Directorate raids on TASMAC
Tamil Nadu : The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday moved an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Enforcement Directorate raids alleging a fraud of Rs 1,000 crore in TASMAC.
Earlier, the Madras High Court on April 23 ordered the dismissal of the petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government and TASMAC against the inspection and allowed the Enforcement Department to proceed.
Sabarish Subramaniam, counsel for the Tamil Nadu government, on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against this order.
Raid: Based on a complaint of irregularities in TASMAC, Enforcement Directorate officials raided the TASMAC headquarters last March. In this, the Enforcement Directorate issued a report, stating that irregularities of more than Rs 1,000 crore have been committed in the TASMAC administration.
The TASMAC administration and the Tamil Nadu government had filed a case in the Madras High Court against this raid. The High Court dismissed these petitions and allowed the Enforcement Directorate to continue with its action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Further, the High Court had said that the crime of illegal money laundering is a crime against the people of the country.
It was argued by TASMAC and the Tamil Nadu government that during these raids, the officials were detained for several hours and tortured. The government argued that these raids were the result of political vendetta.
To this, the High Court questioned, “Can the court investigate the play of political forces or be a participant in the political game?”
Also, the High Court said that the raid or search operation by an investigating agency should be intelligently planned and executed to ensure that the culprits are caught unexpectedly.
The court also said that the argument of a pre-condition of obtaining the consent of the state government before issuing a search warrant is completely unreasonable and unreasonable.
The high court said the allegations and complaints against Tasmac are serious and require a thorough investigation.
Earlier, petitions seeking transfer of their plea against the raids carried out by the Enforcement Directorate on Tamil Nadu government-run TASMAC from the Madras High Court to the high court of another state were not accepted for hearing in the Supreme Court. As a result, those petitions were withdrawn.
