HC dismisses anticipatory bail to a man who was arrested by ED for money laundering
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Aug 24, 2017, 20:29 IST
CHENNAI: Contending that the petitioner was a 'dubious character' who assumed multiple identities and against whom there were serious complaints, Madras High Court dismissed the bail petition moved by a man who was arrested by Enforcement Directorate recently for money laundering.
Apart from assuming several names, the petitioner had submitted forged documents to a bank on the strength of which huge foreign exchange had left the country, Justice PN Prakash said. " If granted bail, he would not be available for trial," he said, while rejecting the bail.
ED had registered a case against Liakath Ali, proprietor of Galaxy Impex, after the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Chennai police had registered an FIR for filing forged bill of entries to support their claim of physical imports and park funds outside the country. This was based on an alert from Customs and Indian Bank.
During the investigation, ED found that Rs 21.27 crores came into an Indian Bank account started by Ali, of which Rs 19.52 crores left the country. Import documents were allegedly forged and Ali had not imported any goods.
Ali's counsel argued that the Rs 19.52 crore that left India were not 'proceeds of crime' and as regards the forged import bills submitted to the bank, he could be prosecuted only under IPC or Customs Act, but not under PMLA.
He also stated that the sum of Rs 21.27 crore was not acquired as a result of forgery of import bills and the forged documents were used only to authorise it out of the country. He also contended that there was no loss to Indian Bank.
Justice Prakash said that a closer scrutiny of the facts in the case showed that petitioner was part of a larger group which was siphoning out foreign exchange out of the country. He had also taken ED officials on a wild goose chase during questioning and had not yet told them how such a huge amount of money came into the account and where it went.
"As regards non-applicability of PMLA to the facts of the case, same cannot be decided in a bail application and matter should be left open to the trial court to decide," Justice Prakash said, dismissing the bail petition.
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Aug 24, 2017, 20:29 IST
CHENNAI: Contending that the petitioner was a 'dubious character' who assumed multiple identities and against whom there were serious complaints, Madras High Court dismissed the bail petition moved by a man who was arrested by Enforcement Directorate recently for money laundering.
Apart from assuming several names, the petitioner had submitted forged documents to a bank on the strength of which huge foreign exchange had left the country, Justice PN Prakash said. " If granted bail, he would not be available for trial," he said, while rejecting the bail.
ED had registered a case against Liakath Ali, proprietor of Galaxy Impex, after the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Chennai police had registered an FIR for filing forged bill of entries to support their claim of physical imports and park funds outside the country. This was based on an alert from Customs and Indian Bank.
During the investigation, ED found that Rs 21.27 crores came into an Indian Bank account started by Ali, of which Rs 19.52 crores left the country. Import documents were allegedly forged and Ali had not imported any goods.
Ali's counsel argued that the Rs 19.52 crore that left India were not 'proceeds of crime' and as regards the forged import bills submitted to the bank, he could be prosecuted only under IPC or Customs Act, but not under PMLA.
He also stated that the sum of Rs 21.27 crore was not acquired as a result of forgery of import bills and the forged documents were used only to authorise it out of the country. He also contended that there was no loss to Indian Bank.
Justice Prakash said that a closer scrutiny of the facts in the case showed that petitioner was part of a larger group which was siphoning out foreign exchange out of the country. He had also taken ED officials on a wild goose chase during questioning and had not yet told them how such a huge amount of money came into the account and where it went.
"As regards non-applicability of PMLA to the facts of the case, same cannot be decided in a bail application and matter should be left open to the trial court to decide," Justice Prakash said, dismissing the bail petition.
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