ED gets two-day custody of Gautam Khaitan in fresh money laundering case

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday sent lawyer Gautam Khaitan, an accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case to a two-day ED custody in connection with a fresh case of alleged possession of black money and money laundering.

During the court proceedings, the ED's special public prosecutors D P Singh and N K Matta maintained that the present case had nothing to do with the alleged AgustaWestland scam.

Metropolitan Magistrate Neetu Sharma sent the accused to custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that he was operating and holding a number of foreign accounts illegally and thereby possessing black money and stash assets.

Khaitan's advocate P K Dubey opposed the ED's submissions and accused the agency of forging documents, saying that the present case was related to AgustaWestland case for which Khaitan was already being prosecuted and was out on bail.

He claimed that the case number of the present case is that of the AgustaWestland case.

The fresh criminal case under the PMLA was filed by the ED against Khaitan on the basis of a case filed by the Income Tax Department against him under Section 51 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.