Enforcement Directorate step to plea against Ratul Puri bail has seen disappointment recently. The Delhi Court rejected its request to cancel the bail granted to him in AgustaWestland money laundering case. Justice Suresh Kait with his single Judge Bench said that “It was decided that once the bail has been given, it cannot be canceled mechanically. It cannot be canceled without taking into account the extraordinary circumstances that are unfavorable for a fair trial. There is no denying fact that, the bail can only be revoked for those who discerning few cases where it is proved that the people who were granted bail is misusing the same but in this case all of these facts are lost" Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Dolat Ram and others vs. the State of Haryana, the Court found that the bail could be cancelled only on the basis of interference or attempts at the functioning of the judiciary, disguises or efforts to ensure the functioning of the judiciary or abuse of the concession granted to the accused in any manner. The court also found that the investigation of the AgustaWestland case had been going on for more than five years and that 46 defendants sued 25 abroad. Added further “Although the investigation may take years to complete, Puri has been serving 100 days of pre-trial detention and has been questioned significantly” It was also found that Puri is not a risk of running away because he is rooted in the community and is not afraid of influencing witnesses because their statements have become part of the court records. In view of the above, the Court concluded that there was no reason to interfere in the granting of guarantees. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Ratul Puri on dated September 2019. He has finally remained in pre-trial detention after detention from ED. Puri was arrested after a forward-looking application was rejected by the CBI court and the Supreme Court on the grounds that the investigation of the case for his role was at an important stage. The role of Ratul Puri in the AgustaWestland case arose after the deportation of Rajiv Saxena and Sushen Mohan Gupta from Dubai in early 2019. According to Puri prosecutors, there was incriminating evidence, including Susan Mohan Gupta's diary and e-mails restored by Rajiv Saxena, revealing that Puri had received the results from AgustaWestland transaction. ED claims that Puri uses the guise of shellfish companies to collect proceeds of crime, which are then parked and washed for other beneficiaries who are willing. ED then submitted an additional letter to Puri in the Agustawestland case. Puri received bail from CBI on 02-Dec-2019 from the Special CBI Judge ED was represented by Standing Counsel Amit Mahajan with ASG KM Nataraj. Senior advocates represented Ratul’s case which includes Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, Vikas Pahwa , Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibbal, Sahil Goyal, Rudrashish Bhardwaj, Akshay Gadeock, Hardik Sharma, Yugant Sharma, Ansh Kukreja, Sumer Bopari, Vikas Pahwa , Mudit Jain, Ayush Jindal, Barkha Rastogi, Deepanshu Choithani, Vafee Haider, Varun Chopra. In a case pertaining to allocation of coal blocks, a Delhi court few months back had summoned Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda with three others while taking cognizance of the charge sheet documented by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against them.
Vijay Darda was summoned by Madhu Jain, special CBI judge. Apart from him, his son Devendra Dadra, Manoj Jaiswal Director with a Nagpur based company AMR Iron & Steel Private Limited on 23/05. In the charge sheet filed by CBI, they were named as the accused on 27/03. In the charge sheet it had alleged that they had illegally acquired the coal blocks. The imposed offences mentioned in the charge sheet were under sections 120- B which states criminal conspiracy. It further includes section 420 of cheating of Indian Penal Code under the provision of Prevention of Corruption Act. CBI sought some more time for filing the answer during the proceeding on the plea documented by AMR Iron & Steel Private Limited. CBI was seeking monitoring of the existing probe in this case. In its plea documented via Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, Nagpur based company AMR Iron & Steel Private Limited had stated that CBI has not probed the case precisely and charge sheet was documented on the basis The Enforcement Directorate of India questioned Chanda Kochhar, the former CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband. The duo submitted documents related to their personal finances along with investments made in different companies. The papers also contained information about their movable and immovable properties. They even presented disclosures made before RBI, SEBI and other regulatory bodies. An official, who knew about the matter, brought it to the forefront.
Chanda Kochhar sought support from a Delhi-based Advocate Vijay Aggarwal. This solicitor is Nirav Modi’s lawyer too. Aggarwal successfully defended many of the people accused in the 2G scam in the past. ED officials were questioning the couple at the ED office on Monday. On that very day, the Kochhars moved the appellate tribunal of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA. They sought the release of documents related to two different companies. These companies, the Quality Techno Advisors Pvt. Ltd. and Pacific Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. shared a link with Deepak Kochhar. ED officers seized the documents on the 1st of March. Arguments By Vijay Aggarwal Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, the solicitor of the Kochhars, placed a couple of arguments. Firstly, the names of the companies were not on the FIR. Apart from that, the seizure of hard disks, laptops, electronic records is hampering the daily tasks of those business firms. An ED officer who knew about the developments informed that the agency seized Rs. 10 lakh in cash from the Kochhars. The duo wants the money back, but Aggarwal denied commenting to this statement. The ED officer mentioned earlier requested news officials not to disclose the individual’s identity. The officer informed that they asked Kochhar about the loans that the ICICI Bank gave to a few business agencies. These companies include the Videocon group, Bhushan Steel Pvt. Ltd. Sterling Biotech Ltd. and Jaypee Group. ICICI Bank granted loans to these business companies when Chanda Kochhar was at the help of the financial institution. Now, the Central Agency is attempting to decipher whether Deepak Kochhar’s company NuPower Renewables received money from companies. There are possibilities of such an event, particularly when ICICI Bank disbursed loans to the latter. The ED officer mentioned above said that they are scrutinizing the investments, documents, and bank account details. They are searching for any links that they might share with the information collected independently by different investigative sources. It is possible that ED will summon the couple for further questioning on Monday. ED also questioned Chanda Kochhar’s brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar last month. This probing of ED began from an FIR filed at the Central Bureau of Investigation. It linked Chanda Kochhar, her husband, and Videocon Group’s MD, Venugopal Dhoot and deemed them as accused. ED started investigating further on the loans when fresh complaints arrived. A whistleblower in Singapore was the source of information. Rajiv Kochhar is from Singapore, and hence the link. According to the allegations, the Videocon group received massive amounts as loans from ICICI when Chanda Kochhar was the CEO. The loans were in six installments, and they amount to a total of Rs 1,875 crores. The issuing of the same took place between June 2009 and October 2011. Another allegation stated in the CBI FIR that the Kochhars received a quid-pro-quo by transferring Dhoot’s amount invested in NuPower Renewables. It happened after Videocon received a loan of Rs 300 crores from ICICI Bank. Kochhar stepped down from her post at the ICICI Bank on the 4th of October. She defended herself by saying that the companies got the loans based on their merit. There aren’t any connections between them and her husband’s business. CBI issued a lookout circular of LoC earlier this year to ensure that the Kochhars and Dhoot can’t leave India. |
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July 2023
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