New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has held that the profits earned on bribe money after investment in share market would constitute as proceeds of crime and amounts to offence of money laundering.

Appreciation in value does not cleanse or purify the tainted origin, since the augmented value is inextricably and indirectly derived from the original illicit source of bribe, the court said.

“The offence of money laundering being continuing in nature is not confined only to the initial act of criminal acquisition but also extends to every process or activity connected with the proceeds, including layering through multiple transactions, integration into the legitimate economy and projection of the acquired wealth as lawful,” a bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar

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