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The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday issued internal guidelines to its officers on the timing for recording statements, saying efforts should be made to do so during regular hours for those summoned.
The Enforcement Directorate office in New Delhi. (HT photo)
The federal agency has also said that interrogations of the elderly and infirm should be strictly limited to regular hours.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that it is following the guidelines of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court regarding recording of statements under Section 50 of the PMLA.
To comply with these directions, the ED has issued comprehensive internal guidelines for its officers, including details on the timings for recording such statements, the agency said in a statement.
In its notice, ED stated: “The authorized officer is expected to be well prepared with copies of documents to be consulted as well as a questionnaire to examine the person summoned on the agreed date and time. The competent officer, while fixing the date and time of execution of the summons, shall ensure that the person so summoned is taken for questioning at the appointed time and date without keeping him waiting for hours.”
The ED has said that due to the nature of money laundering, where individuals can quickly disperse, transfer or conceal the proceeds of crime and destroy digital evidence, investigating officers should aim to promptly complete the investigation of summoned individuals, ideally at the same day or the next day. next.
“This approach can minimize the opportunity for the person summoned to transfer or conceal the proceeds of crime, or to fabricate fabrications and fabricated statements. However, efforts should be made to record the statement of the person called during earthly hours, i.e. during business hours, instead of stretching it too late into the night. In the case of senior citizens, persons with serious medical conditions or persons who are ill or frail, the examination of such person should be limited to earth hours and it would be appropriate to postpone the examination to the next date or another mutually agreed date. of the practice,” ED added in its circular.
In exceptional cases, where there is credible information that a person may conceal or dissipate the proceeds of crime, destroy evidence or evade further investigation, an authorized officer may extend the recording of statements beyond regular hours, ED said.
The officer must document the reason on file and obtain approval from the deputy, associate or additional director, it added.