PMLA Offence by CA by vitiating Legal Process of NCLT: Delhi HC Grants Bail Considering No possibility of Trial [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to a Chartered Accountant (CA) who was accused of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 by vitiating the legal process of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The bail was conducted considering no possibility of trail.

M/s Sunstar Overseas Ltd. and its directors were victims of a complaint brought by the former chief manager of Punjab National Bank's Hindu College Branch in Sonipat, Haryana. Five banks' accounts—PNB, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, and State Bank of India—were designated as non-performing assets (NPAs) in accordance with the FIR.

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According to the allegations, the accused corporation obtained a number of credit facilities from the "Consortium of 9 Lender Banks" and failed to reimburse the banks for the loans, thereby diverting or siphoning off the alleged loan amount. Because the hypothecated products were disposed of without putting the sale proceeds into their Cash Credit Accounts, it was further claimed that the accused corporation had breached the terms and conditions of the loan agreements.

According to the CBI's case, M/s Sunstar Overseas Ltd., the accused company, committed fraud by syphoning and diverting funds, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating, fraud, and other means, resulting in an approximate wrongful loss of Rs. 951.88 crores to the consortium of nine lender banks.

The applicant was apprehended in the ECIR filed with the respondent/ED on July 1, 2024, together with Ajay Yadav and Paramjeet Sharma, during the course of the inquiry. Regarding the petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Gulati, the primary accusation is that he was the driving force behind the entire scheme and worked as a chartered accountant for the accused corporation and its affiliated companies.

In order to eventually purchase the accused company through the NCLT process, the applicant was assisting Rohit Aggarwal, the primary beneficiary, in transferring the monies to different businesses. It is argued that by engaging in practices that undermined the NCLT's legal procedure, the current applicant—who was supposed to be a chartered accountant—betrayed his professional obligations.

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As a chartered accountant who operates his own partnership firm and serves as an external statutory auditor for the accused company, which is owned and operated by the Aggarwal family and its directors, the applicant filed the bail application.

The applicant argued that, as an external auditor, he had no control over the financial records of the companies in question and was only offering professional services in relation to the fact that no incriminating information had come to light during the current ECIR investigation or the predicate offense.

The court observed that the predicate/scheduled offense trial is still in the preliminary stage and has not yet begun. The trial is unlikely to be finished in a fair amount of time, and the prosecution has called 98 witnesses. The predicate/scheduled offense recorded with the CBI has approximately 8000 documents, whereas the current complaint case filed by the respondent/ED contains approximately 6000 documents. According to the respondent/ED's response, the investigation is still ongoing to identify and locate the remaining "proceeds of crime" and ascertain the involvement of other individuals or companies.

The single bench of Justice Amit Sharma has observed that restrictions outlined in Section 45 of the PMLA would not impede the right to personal liberty and a quick trial guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution if the applicant was kept in custody without any chance of a trial being held soon.

The court granted CA bail after he satisfied the Trial Court/Link Court with a personal bond of Rs. 1,00,000 and two sureties of the same amount, subject to a number of additional requirements.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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