JUDGMENT

Dalveer Bhandari, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 04.08.2010 passed in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 4700 of 2008 by the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi.

3. In the impugned judgment, it is mentioned that the basic allegation is amassing of illicit wealth by various former Ministers, including a former Chief Minister of the State. The money alleged to have been so earned is of unprecedented amounts. However, there is no clear allegation so far about its laundering in the sense mentioned above, but there is an allegation of its investment in property, shares etc. not only in India but also abroad.

4. The basic investigation requires determining whether money has been acquired by an abuse of the official position amounting to an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and under the Indian Penal Code, the persons by whom this has been done, the amount which has been so earned and places where it has been invested.

5. The amount is alleged to run into several hundred crores. The investigations done so far allege that the amount unearthed so far in one case is about one and a half crore and in another case is about six and a half crores, which would appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. The investments having been made not only in various States of the country outside the State of Jharkhand, but also in other countries means that the investigation called for is not only multi-state but also multi-national.

6. The matter on the face of it requires a systematic, scientific and analysed investigation by an expert investigating agency, like the Central Bureau of Investigation. It is incorporated in the affidavit that 32 companies have to be investigated and the money acquired by illegal means being invested in Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (UAE), Jakarta (Indonesia), Sweden and Libya. It is also mentioned that there are several companies in other countries in which there are huge investments by the accused or with the help of their accomplices in foreign countries. The list of countries and companies indicate prima facie that the amount involved could not be a mere few crores, but would be nearer a few hundred crores.

7. The High Court in the impugned judgment has also mentioned that it is neither possible nor desirable at this stage to give a positive finding about how much of the crime proceeds have been `projected as untainted'. Therefore, there is an area of overlap and the same cannot be allowed to form a tool in the hands of the accused to scuttle the investigation. Looking to the gravity and magnitude of the matter, after hearing learned Counsel for the parties, the Division Bench of the High Court referred the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The High Court also observed that the Central Government should exercise the powers under Section 45(1A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (for short "the PML Act") for transferring investigation from the Enforcement Directorate to the CBI. If such an order is not passed by the Central Government, any material found by the CBI during investigation, which leads to an inference of money laundering within the PML Act will be shared by the CBI with the Enforcement Directorate from time to time, to enable the Enforcement Directorate to take such action, as may be necessary.

8. The Appellant, aggrieved by the said judgment preferred this appeal before this Court. Shri K.K. Venugopal, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellant formulated following substantial questions of law concerning the impugned judgment and the interpretation of the PML Act.

1. Whether the PML Act is a self-occupied Code while the Act constituting the CBI is limited?

2. Whether, in light of Section 45(1A) read with Sections 43 and 44 of the PML Act, the CBI has any authority to investigate offences which are the sole domain of the Enforcement Directorate?

3. Whether the High Court was right in brushing aside all the allegat