Top court refuses to stay trial in 2G case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the proceedings against Swan telecom promoter Shahid Balwa and others accused in a money laundering case connected with the 2G spectrum scam.

A three- judge bench of Chief Justice H. L. Dattu and Justices S. A. Bobde and Arun Mishra declined the oral plea made by sen- ior counsel Harish Salve for Mr Balwa to stay the proceedings as the trial was about to be completed and irreparable damage would be caused if the trial ended without hearing their appeals against a lower court order framing charges against them.

The plea contended that the offences they had been accused of having committed in 2007- 08 were not part of the schedule of offences mentioned under the PMLA till May 31, 2009. It was argued that penal law could not be applied retrospectively and such use would be, in effect, a violation of his constitutional rights.

The CJI told Mr Salve, “In all these cases we have consistently refused to stay the proceedings.” The bench took note of the submissions of senior counsel and special public prosecutor for 2G cases Anand Grover that final arguments would commence only on June 1 and posted the matter for final hearing in August.

A special court had on October 3, 2014 ordered framing of charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA) against 19 persons, including Mr Balwa, former communications minister A. Raja, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and wife Dayalu Ammal, Vinod Goenka, directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV ( KTV) MD Sharad Kumar and its director P. Amirtham and Bollywood producer Karim Morani. They all are on bail.

As the Delhi HC had been barred by the SC from entertaining any appeals arising out of trials in the 2G cases, the accused approached the SC seeking various reliefs.