COURT DENIES BAIL TO DELHI MINISTER JAIN IN PMLA CASE
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday denied bail to AAP minister Satyendar Jain and two others in a money laundering case, saying that he was “actually involved in concealing the proceeds of crime”. Special judge Vikas Dhull said that Jain “had knowingly done such activity to obliterate the tracing of the source of ill-gotten money”. Jain was arrested on May 30 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is lodged in
Tihar jail.
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday denied bail to minister Satyendar Jain and two others in a money laundering case, saying that he was, prime facie, “involved in concealing the proceeds of crime”.
Special judge Vikas Dhull said that Jain “had knowingly done such activity to obliterate the tracing of the source of illgotten money and accordingly, the proceeds of crime was layered through Kolkata based entry operators in a way that its source was difficult to decipher”.
The court also denied bail to co-accused Vaibhav and Ankush Jain, saying there was material on record to show that income declared under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), 2016 by the co-accused was not their own but part of the money that also belonged to Jain in the form of “proceeds of crime”, which has been prima facie established on record from the statement of witnesses and Vaibhav Jain.
Jain was arrested on May 30 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is currently lodged in the Tihar jail.
The Aam Aadmi Party has consistently denied the charges against him, and described them as “political vendetta”.
The case is based on a 2017 CBI FIR lodged against the minister in the AAP government. ED has accused him of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him, in which he was holding shares, and for amassing disproportionate income.
According to ED, Jain transferred money to Kolkata through hawala channel and got it back through dummy companies in the form of accommodation entries.
The court said, it appeared that Jain laundered money by giving cash to the Kolkata-based entry operators and brought it back to three companies -- M/s Manglayatan Developers Projects Pvt Ltd, M/s Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd and M/s Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd -against the sale of shares to show that income of these three companies was “untainted” It added that Jain and the co-accused converted proceeds of crime and unaccounted-for cash into the income of the companies.
The court rejected Jain’s contention that he could not be held liable in the companies, since he is neither a shareholder nor a director.
Jain’s counsel has argued that the minister has not accrued any benefit as money has been transferred into the accounts of the three companies, where he is neither a director nor a shareholder during the period when the alleged transactions took place. He has added that the shares bought back were in the name of co-accused Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain and therefore, no offence of money laundering can be made out.
On Thursday, while denying relief to Jain and others, the court rejected the submission by Jain’s counsel that the bail should be granted, as the Delhi high court has quashed the proceedings against Jain under the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 (amended in 2016)
“Even otherwise, the proceedings under the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 and under the Income Tax Act, 1961 are separate proceedings,” the court said.
Reiterating that money laundering is a serious economic offence, the court said, “The Supreme Court of India has held that the economic offences have deep-rooted conspiracies and involve huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences, affecting the economy of the country as a whole, and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country.”
A Delhi government spokesperon declined to comment.
ED ARRESTED JAIN ON MAY 30 UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF PMLA AND HE IS LODGED IN THE TIHAR JAIL. THE AAP HAS DENIED CHARGES AGAINST THE MINISTER