New Delhi: The long awaited money laundering Bill, to come up in Rajya Sabha in a day or two, proposes sweeping powers for the arrest, survey, search and attachment of property of the persons involved in money laundering.

The legislation, which was originally scheduled to be cleared along with Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in 1999, also provides for setting up of special courts and appellate tribunal to ensure speedy trial of the offenders.

The comprehensive legislation has been brought in to comply with a United Nations resolution to deal with the problem of money laundering. The proposed law lays down stringent conditions for grant of bail to persons accused of money laundering.

It also provides for establishment of a separate adjudicating authority for ascertaining the facts of the property being involved in money laundering.

"The whole idea behind establishing this machinery is to immediately set in motion the process of attachment of property the moment it is known that a person is in possession of proceeds of crime", says the Bill.

The need for a law to deal with money laundering arose after foreign exchange violation was made a civil offence under FEMA, which replaced the draconian Foreign Exchange Regulation Act that treated such violation as a criminal offence.

PTI