IMPORTANT POINT
Contempt proceeding being a quasi-criminal proceeding standard of proof should be as such.

Judgment :-

Aftab Alam, J.

1. This petition is filed under Article 129 of the Constitution of India read with Order XLVII of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966 and rule 3(C) of the Rules to regulate proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975 making the prayer to punish respondent No.1 for withdrawing a very large sum of money from his bank account in a Swiss bank in violation of this Court’s orders dated September 4, 2006 and December 14, 2006. As a matter of fact, by an earlier order passed by the Court on April 1, 2010, in course of the proceedings of the case, respondent No.1 has actually been held guilty of contempt of court; it is a brief order, wherein Paragraphs 6 & 7, the Court observed and held as follows:

“6. For the allegations made in the contempt petition, a notice had been issued to the contemnor. In the notices it was specifically mentioned that the charge against him is that he has violated the order of this Court dated 4.9.2006. In fact, the respondent No.1-contemnor has filed his reply thereto. However, from a perusal of the reply filed by the contemnor it is clear that he has not denied the allegation of the petitioner that he has withdrawn money by flouting the order of this Court dated 4.9.2006.

7. From the above discussion, we are satisfied that there is sufficient material on the record to suggest that contemnor-respondent No. 1 has committed contempt of Court. Therefore, we hold the contemnor guilty of Contempt of Court.”

2. On that date, however, the Court did not give any punishment to the respondent but directed the case to be listed on April 12, 2010 for passing the sentence on the contempt, observing further that, in the meanwhile, if the contemnor deposited the amount withdrawn from the bank, the Court might consider recalling the order passed on that date.

3. The respondent did not deposit the amount allegedly withdrawn by him from the bank account but on April 6, 2010 filed a petition for recall of the order holding him guilty of contempt of court. He took the plea that the order dated April 1, 2010 was based on the incorrect premise that in the reply to the contempt petition filed by him, he did not deny the allegation that he had made withdrawals from his bank account by flouting the Court’s order dated September 4, 2006. He pointed out that in the reply petition, he had clearly and repeatedly said that he had not withdrawn any money from his bank account after the orders of this Court, dated September 4, 2006 and December 14, 2006 and he reiterated that statement in the petition for recall of the order.

4. After that, the case was heard on a number of dates and was finally taken up on July 17, 2012 when the matter was practically heard all over again also on the question whether or not the respondent had committed contempt of court by withdrawing money from his bank account in the Swiss bank in violation of the Court’s orders dated September 4, 2006 and December 14, 2006.

5. The relevant facts necessary to appreciate the respective contentions made on behalf of the parties may be stated thus. The petitioner, National Fertilizers Ltd., is a company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act owned and controlled by the GOI.

6. Karsan Danismanlik Turizm Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited STI (hereinafter: Karsan) is a Turkish company. The respondent, Tuncay Alankus was the manager of Karsan with individual signature and one Cihan Karanci (not a party to this proceeding) was his deputy manager and counselor. Both Alankus and Karanci were the beneficiaries of Karsan.

7. The petitioner company entered into an agreement, dated November 9, 1995 with Karsan, which presented itself as a producer of urea. The contract was for supply of two lakh metric tons of urea, 46 N fertilizer at a price of US$ 190 per metric ton. The total value of the contract was US$ 38,000,000. In terms of the contract, the petitioner company was to pay to Karsan the full contract value in advance by way of two remittances i.e., (1)