Will repeal anti-corruption law if Congress comes to power, says Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram recently said the existing Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) would be repealed and a new anti-corruption law would be made if the party is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram recently said the existing Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) would be repealed and a new anti-corruption law would be made if the party is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"If we come to power, the PMLA will be repealed. We will make a new PMLA law," Chidambaram said during a discussion on his book, "The Watershed Year: Which Way Will India Go?" at the Kolkata Literary Festival 2024.

He asserted that the PMLA was not "implemented willingly" and said the Congress was "pressurised" to notify the act after it was passed in Parliament in 2002.

"We didn't implement the PMLA willingly. When it was passed in 2002, we were pressurised to notify the act. We did. We made two amendments. I made the offence non-cognisable. Even then, I didn't anticipate that this law could be weaponised. Every law is being weaponised," he added.