ED withdraws summons issued to senior lawyer

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday withdrew its summons issued against a senior advocate for reportedly giving legal advice in a case, after the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA) wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai for taking note of the coercive action.

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The anti-money laundering agency wrote to senior advocate Pratap Venugopal, informing him that the summons had been withdrawn with “immediate effect”.

The summons issued by the ED were related to an investigation, involving the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) granted by Care Health Insurance to former Religare Enterprises Chairperson Rashmi Saluja.

Venugopal was the advocate-on-record for a legal opinion authored by senior advocate Arvind Datar, which supported the grant of stock options. The ED had earlier issued a similar notice to Datar, but it was later withdrawn.

On June 20, the SCAORA had written to the CJI, flagging the issuance of ED summons to Venugopal. In a strongly-worded letter, SCAORA president Vipin Nair described ED’s action as “a deeply disquieting development” that poses a serious threat to the foundational principles of lawyer-client confidentiality and the independence of the legal profession.

“It has come to our notice that senior advocate Pratap Venugopal, has received on June 19, a summons dated June 18, by the ED under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in its investigation into the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) granted by M/s Care Health Insurance Ltd for a purported legal opinion rendered by senior advocate Arvind Datar, wherein Pratap Venugopal, was the advocate-on-record, supporting the grant of stock options to former Religare enterprises chairperson Rashmi Saluja,” the letter said further.

“These actions by the ED, we believe, amount to an impermissible transgression of the sacrosanct lawyer-client privilege,” the letter said, warning that such coercive measures could have a chilling effect on the legal community.

Requesting the top court to act decisively, the association urged the court to examine the legality and propriety of such summonses to legal professionals.

Subsequently, in a statement on June 20, the ED said, “In view of the fact that Venugopal is a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court, the summons issued to him has been withdrawn and same has been communicated to him. In the said communication, it has also been stated that if any documents will be required from him in his capacity as an Independent Director of CHIL, the same will be requested from him to be submitted by email.”

“Further, the ED has also issued a circular for the guidance of the field formations that no summons shall be issued to any advocate in violation of Section 132 of the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Further if any summons needs to be issued under the exceptions carved out in proviso to Section 132 of the BSA, 2023, the same shall be issued only with the prior approval of the ED Director,” read the statement issued by the agency.