IMPORTANT POINT
Bail – Right of personal liberty and individual freedom which is probably the most cherished, is not in any manner, arbitrarily to be taken away from anybody even temporarily without following procedure prescribed by law.

ORDER

The petitioner, who was arrested by the respondent on 8.7.2022 and remanded to judicial custody for the offence punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in Enforcement Case Information Report ECIR No.CEZO-1/14/2017 on the file of the respondent police, seeks bail.

2. The case of the prosecution is as under:—

(i) On scrutiny and advice of the Concurrent Auditors, the Punjab National Bank, Mint Street, Chennai had some verification with regard to the genuineness of the account holders and thereupon, a scam has come to light.

(ii) It was found out that some account holders had fraudulently opened Current Accounts during the year 2015 and on entering into a criminal conspiracy with some unknown public servants of the bank, sent some tainted money to Hong Kong without any genuine transactions under the guise of remitting 100% advance for import of goods.

(iii) On verification, it was found out that 19 account holders had received remittances from various bank accounts to their accounts by way of RTGS and in turn, they made nearly 772 remittances of 100% import advance based on some quotations, during the period from January 2015 to June 2015 to the tune of Rs.450 Crores and when verified with the details of such account holders, it was found out that none of the units was functioning in the given addresses and it is a case of Money Laundering through Shell Companies causing loss of Foreign Exchange to the tune of Rs.450 Crores to the Government.

(iv) Thereupon, a case of money laundering was registered in ECIR No.CEZO-1/14/2017 for the offences under Section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 punishable under Section 4 of the said Act was filed.

(v) On investigation, it was found out that the petitioner is a part of the scam and he had incorporated a Company under the name M/s. Open Sky Exports HK Ltd in Hong Kong and as a Director of the Company, opened a bank account No.390603314883 with Heng Seng Bank Ltd., Central Hong Kong Branch and through that account, had received a sum of USD 35,23,340/- equivalent to a sum of Rs.22,60,17,109/- from India under the guise of export advance, but, had not exported anything to India and thereby, had enriched himself to the tune of Rs.22.60 Crores for parking of ‘proceeds of crime’ by legitimizing the illicit and tainted money and committed an offence of International Trade Based Money Laundering.

(vi) Further investigation had revealed that the India-based remitters viz., M/s. Bhagya Laxmi Traders and M/s. Star Overseas are all untraceable and non-existent dummy entities which sent remittances to the Hong Kong based Company of the petitioner in the name of M/s. Open Sky Exports HK Ltd.

(vii) Having found sufficient reasons on examination done under Section 50 of the Act to believe the involvement of the petitioner in the offence of money laundering by directly attempting to indulge and knowingly assisted and knowingly is the party and is actually involved in the process connected with the proceeds of crime including its possession, acquisition or use and projecting or claiming as untainted property in terms of Section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the petitioner was arrested and hence, the present petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking bail.

3. Learned Senior Counsel Mr. Sriram Panchu appearing for the petitioner would submit his arguments as under:—

(i) The petitioner had studied only upto 10th standard and is running an enterprise in the name M/s. ELAR Industries at Delhi, involved in manufacturing of wires and cables and during the year 2015, the petitioner intended to expand his business by availing bank loan. While so, the petitioner’s friend on Tarun Krishna introduced one Sukhjeet Singh to him, who advised the petitioner to open a Company in Hong Kong and run the business for a short period to enable him avail loan from Hong Kong at lower rate of interest. Believing his words, the petitioner