Blackmoney: Court reserves order on bail pleas of bizmen

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday reserved its order on the bail plea of two directors of a private firm, arrested in a money-laundering case relating to alleged cheating of several banks to the tune of Rs 2,240 crore.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma reserved the order after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the directors of Surya Vinayak Industries Limited -- Sanjay Jain and Rajiv Jain -- concluded their arguments.

Special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana, appearing for ED, opposed the applications of the accused, saying they might hamper the ongoing investigation if relief was granted.

He said the quantum of proceeds of crime was very high and if granted bail, the accused may divert the crime proceeds which are yet to be attached.

Some of the accused are yet to be arrested, the ED said.

In their applications, the accused persons have claimed that they were not required for the purpose of investigation any further and should be granted the relief.

They also cited a recent Supreme Court judgement striking down a stringent condition for securing bail in money laundering cases.

The accused were arrested on August 22, days after they were granted bail in a related CBI case.

The CBI had earlier told the court that the four accused used more than 100 shell companies for routing and diverting the bank funds. The firm and the shell companies had no genuine business transactions, it had alleged.

The company had allegedly diverted bank funds to the tune of Rs 2,240 crore, which resulted in loss to the consortium.

Over Rs 300 crore of working capital was also allegedly moved to six companies set up abroad, the agency had said.

The case was registered by the CBI on the complaint of Punjab National Bank (PNB), alleging that the accused were using over 100 shell companies for routing and diverting the bank funds.

In its complaint, the PNB had alleged that the company had diverted bank funds to the tune of Rs 2,240 crore, which resulted in loss to the consortium. It had alleged that they had cheated 17 nationalised and four private banks.

Later, ED also registered a case in this regard.

It was alleged that the 100 shell companies used by the accused for routing and diversion of bank funds had no genuine business transactions.