The Telangana High Court has granted bail to CA accused of assisting to launder Rs 1,100 cr from Mumbai to Hong Kong.
The petitioner was summoned on 26.11.2021 and his statement was recorded at Delhi Zonal Office and he has admitted to having issued Form 15CB certificates. The quantum of remittances was clearly not in tune with the nature and conduct of Deepak Nayyar and his companies and he knew these were shell entities and took Rs.1,000/- to 1,500/- per certificate to issue bogus certificates. It is stated that these certificates were essential to send FOWR. Petitioner is not disclosing the role played by SBI staff in doing these remittances, which at first glance itself appears completely doubtful. It is further stated that the petitioner has not verified the original business nor the Bills of Entry and the economic rationale of such large payments from paper entities and he is aware of the ultimate objective and further alleged that the petitioner knowingly assisted the other accused persons in the offence of generation of proceeds of crime and its layering and concealment by remitting the same to obscure entities in Hong Kong and thus involved in the offence of money laundering, as such he is liable for punishment under Section 19 of PML Act.
Advocates Abhishek Garg, Apurva M Gokhale of AGS Legal led by Ravichander Senior Advocate on behalf of the accused contended that ED authorities sought for custody of petitioner for five days and that is also completed and now detaining the petitioner in jail will not serve any purpose, as such his case may be considered for grant of bail.
The single bench of Justice Lalitha Kaneganti held that the Petitioner shall be enlarged on bail on his executing a personal bond for a sum of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand only) with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Nampally, Hyderabad.
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