PMLA case: Delhi HC reserves order on Satyendar Jain's bail plea
New Delhi, March 22: After repeated sessions, the Delhi High Court has reserved its decision on jailed former AAP minister Satyendar Jain and two others in a money laundering case.
On Tuesday (March 21), the bench of Judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma reserved the order following the conclusion of both parties' submissions. While arguing for the Enforcement Directorate, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju stated that money laundering is crystal clear against Jain and other co-accused.
Jain stated in their bail plea that he appeared before the ED seven times. He cooperated and took part in the investigation. He was arrested in 2022 in connection with a 5-year-old case.
Satyendar Jain's bail plea was denied by the trial court on November 17, 2022. Jain was arrested on May 30, 2022, by the Enforcement Directorate under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in Judicial Custody in the case.
Jain said in his bail plea at the Delhi High Court that the trial court Judge and the ED had badly misread and misapplied the PMLA by identifying profits of crime merely on the basis of accommodations entries. That accommodation entries are not a punishable offence under the PMLA.
While dismissing the bail petition, the Rouse Avenue Court stated that the accused Satyendar Kumar Jain had knowingly engaged in such activity in order to obliterate the tracing of the source of ill-gotten money, and as a result, the proceeds of crime were layered through Kolkata-based entry operators in such a way that its source was difficult to decipher.
"Hence, applicant/accused Satyendar Kumar Jain has prima facie indulged in the offence of money laundering of more than Rs.1 crore. Further, the offence of money laundering is a serious economic offence and the view of the Supreme Court of India with regard to economic offences is that they constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail," the Court stated.
"Hence, the accused Satyendar Kumar Jain is not entitled to the benefit of bail having regard to the twin conditions provided in Section 45 of the PMLA."
- ANI
