Court reserves order on bail plea of Jain in money laundering case

NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court on Tuesday reserved an order on the bail plea of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case.

Senior counsel for Jain submitted, "no case of money laundering is made out against him." On the other hand, the prosecution said there are threats to witnesses.

The investigation is still pending and he can influence the witnesses. He is involved in money laundering using Hawala channel. Special CBI Judge Geetanjali Goel reserved the order after a long hearing.

The court is likely to pronounce the order on June 18. Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Jain on May 30.

He was sent to judicial custody on Monday till 27 June. Senior advocate N Hariharan on behalf of Satyendar Jain submitted that his client is in judicial custody after the interrogation of 13 days. Any case of money laundering is not made out against him as the legal requirements are not fulfilled. "There is no possibility of Jain's running away. He went out of India during the investigation and come back. There is no possibility of tampering with the evidence. And lastly, there is no complaint of threats to witnesses.

Agency has registered the statement of witnesses. He also had appeared before ED 7 times and his statements were recorded," Hariharan said. Senior counsel also submitted that the land was purchased by the companies. Those companies were not controlled by Jain as he had a very small share. Companies and shareholders are separate entities.

The property of the company is not considered as the property of shareholders. "The trust about which ED is talking about, my client had resigned from them before check period of 2015-2017. He has nothing to do with those trusts. Apart from that, he is suffering from sleep apnea," he added. On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju opposed the bail saying that the conduct of Satyender Jain as a public servant who is indulged in money laundering hawala channel did not make a case for granting him bail. He is influential, he may influence the witnesses as the investigation is still going on. ASG submitted that Jain had not cooperated in the investigation. His answers were always evasive.

He denied the connection with the trust. When confronted with documents he said he doesn't remember as his memory has been affected post-COVID.

SV Raju also submitted that the money laundering was done under the corporate veil of companies which Jain had controlled. Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain were made directors in those companies.

They were his benamidars. There is evidence that the accommodation entries were made in two trusts Lala Sher Singh and Jindal trust. Jain was connected with these trusts but he did not disclose this fact at first instance, ASG submitted. The court asked the ASG, "whether any accommodation entries in Lala Sher Singh trust during the check period.

To this, he replied we are finding out. The court also asked, "how much amount out 4.81 crore is used for the purchase of land and share etc." The prosecution said it is beyond that. The conspiracy was hatched in 2010. He also said there is evidence that meetings were held at the office of CA J P Mohta and these were attended by Rajendra Bansal who was from Kolkata.

The accommodation entries were made by Kolkata-based companies on a commission basis. The amount of money laundered is 17 crores. The investigation is still going in this regard.

Vaibhav and Ankush Jain were his benamidars, ASG submitted. Earlier ED had submitted, "a large amount of cash found from the benamidars. Rs 2.85 crores plus 1.8 kgs of gold have been recovered from a jeweller during searches."

The Defence counsel submitted that the alleged money laundering offence was finished at the moment when the Agricultural land was attached by the ED. ASG had submitted a document before the court. The court said, " This document has been signed by Jain as president." He was arrested on 30 May in the money laundering case connected with the disproportionate asset (DA) case registered by CBI.

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