Satyendar Kumar Jain Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Madras High Court)
Supreme Court rejected the bail application of Shri Satyendar Kumar Jain and others involved in the case of money laundering as appellants have not complied with the twin mandatory conditions laid down in Section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Facts- An FIR came to be registered against Shri Satyendar Kumar Jain, Minister in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi & Others, for the offences u/s. 109 IPC and 13(2) r.w.s 13(1)(e) of the PC Act, 1988. After the investigation, a Charge-sheet came to be filed by the CBI in respect of the said FIR on 03.12.2018 in the Court of Special Judge, CBI, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi against the six accused.
Since Section 13(2) r.w.s 13(1)(e) of the PC Act in the said FIR dated 24th August, 2017 were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and since it was alleged inter alia that Sh. Satyendar Jain with the help of his family members and other persons had acquired disproportionate assets during the period from 14.02.2015 to 31.05.2017, while he was functioning as Minister of Govt. NCT of Delhi, and had laundered tainted cash amounts through Kolkata based shell companies, the Directorate of Enforcement had registered an ECIR against Satyendar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Ankush Jain and others for investigation into the commission of the offence of Money laundering as defined u/s. 3 and punishable u/s. 4 of the PMLA. On the completion of investigation, the Prosecution Complaint came to be filed on 27.07.2022 by the Directorate of Enforcement in the Court of District and Sessions Judge, Rouse Avenue District Court, New Delhi, against the accused Sh. Satyendar Jain and others with a prayer to take cognizance of the offences of money laundering under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of PMLA. The said Prosecution Complaint is now pending at the stage of framing of charge against the appellants – accused.
Conclusion- Held that the appellants have miserably failed to satisfy us that there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are not guilty of the alleged offences. On the contrary, there is sufficient material collected by the respondent-ED to show that they are prima facie guilty of the alleged offences.
It is not possible to hold that appellants had complied with the twin mandatory conditions laid down in Section 45 of PMLA. The High Court also in the impugned judgment after discussing the material on record had prima facie found the appellants guilty of the alleged offences under the PMLA, which judgment does not suffer from any illegality or infirmity.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
1. Leave granted.
2. All the three appeals arise out of the common impugned judgment and order dated 06.04.2023 passed by the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi, in the Bail Application Nos. 3590 of 2022, 3705 of 2022 and 3710 of 2022, whereby the High Court has rejected all the bail applications of the appellants.
3. Earlier the Special Judge (PC Act) (CBI) -23 (MPs/MLAs cases) vide the separate detailed orders dated 17.11.2022 had rejected the bail applications of all the appellants – accused.
FACTUAL MATRIX
4. An FIR being case No.RC-AC-1-2017-A-0005 dated 24th August, 2017 came to be registered at the CBI AC-1, New Delhi against Shri Satyendar Kumar Jain, Minister in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi & Others, for the offences under Section 109 IPC and 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the PC Act, 1988 at the instance of the Dy. Superintendent of Police, CBI who had conducted a Preliminary Enquiry, being PE AC-1-2017-A0003 dated 10.04.2017 registered at the said office of the CBI. After the investigation, a Charge-sheet came to be filed by the CBI in respect of the said FIR on 03.12.2018 in the Court of Special Judge, CBI, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi against the six accused viz. Sh. Satyendar Kumar Jain, Smt. Poonam Jain, Sh. Ajit Prasad Jain, Sh. Sunil Kumar Jain, Sh. Vaibhav Jain and Sh. Ankush Jain.
5. Since Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the PC Act in the said FIR dated 24th August, 2017 were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the “PMLA”) and since it was alleged inter alia that Sh. Satyendar Jain with the help of his family members and other persons had acquired disproportionate assets during the period from 14.02.2015 to 31.05.2017, while he was functioning as Minister of Govt. NCT of Delhi, and had laundered tainted cash amounts through Kolkata based shell companies, the Directorate of Enforcement had registered an ECIR bearing No. ECIR/HQ/14/2017 dated 30th August, 2017 against Satyendar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Ankush Jain and others for investigation into the commission of the offence of Money laundering as defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA. On the completion of the said investigation, the Prosecution Complaint came to be filed on 27.07.2022 by the Directorate of Enforcement in the Court of District and Sessions Judge, Rouse Avenue District Court, New Delhi, against the accused Sh. Satyendar Jain and others with a prayer to take cognizance of the offences of money laundering under Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of PMLA. The said Prosecution Complaint being CC No.23/2022 is now pending at the stage of framing of charge against the appellants – accused.
6. During the course of investigation, the appellant- Satyendar Kumar Jain was arrested on 30th May, 2022 and the appellants-Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain were arrested on 30th June, 2022. The gist of the allegations made against the appellants-accused as mentioned in the said Prosecution Complaint is as under: –
