Holes punched in 'PMLA shield'...Soon govt's 'brahmastra' to terrorise Oppn will vanish says Singhvi

New Delhi: Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi has said several holes have already been punched in the "shield of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act" and that the so-called 'brahmastra' used by the government to terrorise the opposition will soon "vanish".

Singhvi, who is the lawyer of opposition leaders such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, also alleged that the Modi government was "distorting" the PMLA and so the courts were reacting.

The noted lawyer said that he had obtained release orders for Kejriwal three times under the PMLA but what could be done if there is a "manipulative and vindictive" government. "Each time I get a PMLA release you go and arrest him (Kejriwal) in CBI only because you want to delay, this is not fair. Have you ever heard of a person getting bail three times in PMLA and then you arrest him by CBI? Now they know that the time and the process is the punishment," Singhvi told PTI.

"They know that ultimately he deserves bail but you must delay it, you (BJP government) must get political brownie points by the delay. This has happened in other cases which I have done, be it Sanjay Singh or for other political parties... In that process, we are proud that we have made six-seven major chinks in the armour of the PMLA," the Rajya Sabha MP said. Soon the PMLA will be like a shield with holes and eventually seize to be a shield, Singhvi said. "The prime object of the government to terrorise persons, especially in the opposition, with this so-called 'Brahmastra' will vanish. You will soon find PMLA is not of that relevance to the government as it has been in the last 10 years," he said.

"Today, we have laws which I had the privilege of establishing and arguing before the court and led to judgments in our favour, which hold that grounds of arrest must be furnished... which say reasons of arrest must be clear from the order, which say that bail not jail is the norm even in PMLA cases," Singhvi said.

The judgments have also specified that one cannot use evidence of those who have turned approvers as conclusive evidence without any corroborative evidence, he added. Singhvi accused the government of misusing and distorting the PMLA. Kejriwal is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in the alleged excise policy scam.