The ED has issued a provisional attachment order against your company's accounts. Or your bank has frozen transactions pending an AML review triggered by a correspondent bank query. Or the Financial Intelligence Unit has raised a suspicious transaction report against your business and you have received a notice under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Or your fintech startup is preparing to launch a VDA platform and needs a complete AML/CFT framework before your RBI application. Each of these situations is different. All of them require counsel who understands the PMLA not as text, but as a living enforcement mechanism operated by the ED and the courts.
Goldschmidt Pallonji's AML practice is built on a credential that no other Indian firm can claim. Our founding director is CAMS-certified — holding the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist qualification administered by ACAMS — and has designed and implemented AML compliance programmes under FATF-compliant regulatory regimes in the DIFC (Dubai) and Australia. This is not academic knowledge of FATF guidelines. It is operational knowledge of what a functioning, stress-tested AML programme looks like from the inside — the kind of knowledge that allows GP to build programmes that actually work under regulatory scrutiny, not programmes that merely check compliance boxes.
Our AML practice covers the full spectrum — from proactive compliance programme design for banks, NBFCs, fintechs, VDA platforms, and reporting entities under the PMLA, through to defence of individuals and companies in ED investigations, provisional attachment proceedings, prosecution complaint responses, and PMLA appellate proceedings before the Adjudicating Authority, Appellate Tribunal, and High Courts.
From proactive AML programme design to active defence in ED investigations — the complete AML and financial crime practice.
Design and implementation of end-to-end AML/CFT frameworks for banks, NBFCs, fintechs, payment aggregators, and VDA service providers. KYC/CDD/EDD policies, transaction monitoring systems, STR/CTR filing protocols, MLRO appointment, and staff training programmes calibrated to FATF Recommendations and RBI/SEBI AML guidelines.
Learn More →Immediate response to ED summons, statements under Section 50 PMLA, search and seizure operations, provisional attachment orders under Section 5, and confirmation of attachment before the Adjudicating Authority. Personal representation of directors and individuals facing personal liability under PMLA. Emergency bail applications where arrest is threatened.
Learn More →Challenge to provisional attachment orders before the PMLA Adjudicating Authority. Representation in confirmation proceedings, response to the ED's Show Cause Notice, High Court writ petitions challenging attachment on constitutional and statutory grounds. Asset release strategy including interim stay applications.
Learn More →AML/CFT frameworks for Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VASPs) under India's PMLA VASP notification. FIU-IND registration compliance, transaction monitoring for crypto exchanges, NFT platform compliance, and regulatory interface with the ED on crypto-related investigations. FATF Travel Rule compliance for VDA platforms.
Learn More →Sanctions screening and compliance for Indian companies dealing with international counterparties subject to OFAC, EU, UN, and UK sanctions. FEMA-PMLA overlap analysis for cross-border transactions. Correspondent banking relationship support where Indian entities face de-risking by foreign banks. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) responses.
Learn More →Independent AML audits for reporting entities under the PMLA to assess the adequacy of existing compliance programmes. Regulatory inspection preparation, response to RBI/SEBI/FIU show cause notices on AML deficiencies, and remediation planning. Our forensic accounting team supports transaction-level AML reviews where required.
Learn More →The first 24 hours of an ED action determine the outcome of the next two years. The statement recorded under Section 50 PMLA cannot be retracted. The documents surrendered during a search cannot be unretrieved. The provisional attachment order, once issued, runs for 180 days before confirmation proceedings. GP provides immediate, same-day advice when the ED arrives — before a single statement is given and before a single document is handed over.
Foreign companies with Indian operations face AML risk from two directions simultaneously — their home country regulator's expectations (AUSTRAC, FCA, MAS, DFSA) and India's PMLA framework. GP is uniquely positioned to bridge these — advising on Indian PMLA compliance in a way that is comprehensible and credible to an Australian, GCC, or Singapore parent company's compliance function.
You are a company director. The ED has issued a summons to you personally under Section 50 of the PMLA. The ED officer who called says it is "just for information." It is not. Any statement you give can be — and is regularly — used against you in criminal prosecution. Before you attend a single ED meeting, speak to GP. The advice you receive in the first conversation may determine whether this matter ends with an explanation or with a prosecution complaint naming you personally.
Most Indian lawyers advise on FATF compliance by reading the 40 Recommendations and India's PMLA. Our founding director has operated inside FATF-compliant frameworks — in the DIFC under DFSA supervision and in Australia under AUSTRAC. This means GP's AML compliance advice is calibrated to what regulators actually look for when they examine a programme — not what the guidelines say they should look for.
The best AML compliance programmes are built by lawyers who have defended PMLA prosecutions — because they know exactly what the ED looks for, what evidence gaps become prosecution points, and what documentation weaknesses become attachable. GP's compliance team and defence team are the same people. The programme we design for your company is stress-tested against real ED investigation patterns — not theoretical risk scenarios.
ED investigations are fundamentally financial in nature — trail of funds, layering through multiple entities, integration into legitimate assets. GP's in-house forensic accounting team works alongside our AML lawyers in every significant matter. This means the financial narrative that the ED constructs can be countered with equal financial sophistication — transaction by transaction, entity by entity, with our own forensic analysis presented to the Adjudicating Authority.
Complete confidentiality is maintained. These matters illustrate the nature of our AML and financial crime practice.
The ED attached ₹180Cr of a real estate developer's receivables under PMLA alleging proceeds of crime from a predicate fraud. GP filed a comprehensive reply before the Adjudicating Authority challenging the nexus between the predicate offence and the attached property. Attachment confirmed partially but ₹120Cr released following GP's financial tracing analysis presented to the Authority.
Designed and implemented a full PMLA/AML compliance framework for a mid-sized Indian cryptocurrency exchange post the PMLA VASP notification. FIU-IND registration, KYC/CDD/EDD policies for crypto customers, transaction monitoring system requirements, FATF Travel Rule implementation, and STR/CTR filing protocols.
An Indian subsidiary of a GCC NBFC had its correspondent banking relationships suspended by two international banks following AML de-risking. GP conducted a full AML programme gap analysis calibrated to FATF standards, remediated identified deficiencies, and provided the AML compliance attestation that restored correspondent banking access within 90 days.
The Managing Director leads our AML practice with a credential that is unique in Indian legal practice — CAMS certification from ACAMS, combined with operational experience designing and implementing AML programmes under DFSA (DIFC) and AUSTRAC (Australia) supervision. When GP advises on AML compliance, the advice comes from someone who has been on the regulator's side of the examination — who knows what examiners look for, what documentation they scrutinise, and what gaps become enforcement actions.
Analysis of ED provisional attachment orders, prosecution complaint trends, and the Supreme Court's evolving jurisprudence on the burden of proof in PMLA proceedings.
Read Bulletin →What crypto exchanges and VDA service providers must do now under the PMLA VASP notification — FIU registration, transaction monitoring, STR obligations, and the coming Travel Rule implementation.
Read Bulletin →