Sharad Pawar -- veteran politician and chief of his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party -- said today that he had warned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his UPA government about the amendments in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA, and the possibilities of their abuse under a different government.
It was ironic that then finance minister P Chidambaram, who had suggested the amendment, was one of the people to suffer the consequences when the NDA came to power, he said.
Speaking at the launch of the Marathi book "Narkatla Swarg"(Heaven inside Hell) written by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, he said the law must be amended whenever the power at the Centre changes hands again, he said. The book is Mr Raut's memoirs of his time in jail, following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged money laundering case. He later got bail.
It was Mr Chidambaram who had proposed the amendment to the PMLA that placed the onus on an accused to prove innocence - unlike in any other case where one is considered innocent till proven guilty.
"When I read it (Chidambaram's proposal), I told (prime minister) Manmohan Singh it is very dangerous and we should not go ahead with it... I strongly opposed it, saying if the government changes, we will also have to face consequences. But the advice was not heeded," Mr Pawar said.
"After the government changed, action was taken against Chidambaram and he was arrested. Power was misused," he added, referring to the arrest of the former Union minister by the ED in an alleged money laundering case.
