Karnataka High Court quashes ED proceedings against MLA

The Karnataka High Court has quashed money-laundering proceedings brought by the Enforcement Directorate against Karnataka Congress MLA K.Y. Nanjegowda and other petitioners, ruling that the agency cannot initiate a probe without the statutory foundation of a scheduled offence. The court also set aside proceedings arising from an ED private complaint concerning alleged irregularities at a cooperative milk union.

Justice M.I. Arun held that the ED’s powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are derivative, not original. The court said proceedings under the law cannot continue when the predicate offence on which they depend no longer exists. In this case, the underlying land-scam case had been closed after the required sanction to prosecute was not obtained, and that closure had become final, according to the reports of the ruling.

The petitions challenged an Enforcement Case Information Report registered in November 2023, related summons and proceedings, and a private complaint filed by the ED. The case began with allegations concerning the grant of land in Malur. During its investigation, the agency said it found material suggesting irregularities in recruitment at the...