New Delhi, Dec. 16 -- A Delhi court on Tuesday declined to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's prosecution complaint in the National Herald money-laundering case, holding that proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are not maintainable in the absence of an FIR for the scheduled (predicate) offence.

In a detailed order, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts ruled that an investigation and prosecution for the offence of money laundering under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA cannot be sustained when the case is founded solely on a private complaint and a summoning order, rather than on a duly registered FIR.

The court held that the investigative potential of an FIR is qualitatively superio...