The court ruled that FIR registration is mandatory when information discloses a cognizable offense, with no preliminary inquiry permitted, and clarified the limited role of the judiciary in the investigative process.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J.

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

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2. The present connected cases arise from the same order of dismissal and/or letter of reference dated 4th October, 2021. One is a criminal reference made by the ld. Special Judge, C.B.I Court-20 (Prevention of Corruption Act), Rouse Avenue District Courts, New Delhi and another is a criminal writ petition preferred by the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’) against the said order of dismissal. I. BACKGROUND

3. The said cases arise from a series of allegations regarding corruption that occurred during the execution of certain purchase orders placed for the supply of spare parts by various Public Sector Undertakings (hereinafter ‘PSUs’) including the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (hereinafter ‘HAL’), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (hereinafter ‘ONGC’), Gas Authority of India (hereinafter ‘GAIL’) to M/s Rolls Royce Plc. (London). The allegations made in the said PE related to certain purchase orders placed to Rolls Royce, London. It is claimed that a source informer of CBI had informed that during the period of 2007-2011, undisclosed commissions amounting to approximately 10-11.3% of the contract value were paid by Rolls Royce Plc. (hereinafter ‘Rolls Royce’) to M/s Aashmore Pvt. Ltd. (Singapore) and M/s Infinity for appointing the latter as a commercial advisor to Rolls Royce in contracts with different PSUs. The informer alleged that these amounts paid as commission to M/s Aashmore Pvt. Ltd. were kickbacks to unknown officials of HAL, ONGC and GAIL involved in the procurement process who illegally aided Rolls Royce in the process of procuring the contract. Based on the source information, the CBI had registered Preliminary Enquiry-PE AC-1 2014 A0005 on 21st March, 2014.

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4. Upon initiation of enquiry, as per the PE it was revealed that M/s Rolls Royce Ltd. was prohibited from engaging the services of any intermediary/third party in the supply of materials/spare parts as per the conditions enumerated in the purchase orders and the integrity pact. Thus, the appointment of a commercial advisor was stated to be violative of the terms & conditions of the purchase orders and integrity pact in respect of the supply transactions. Further, it was revealed that such appointments and the payments of commission made with respect to purchase orders of GAIL and ONGC were wilfully concealed by Rolls Royce at the time of the subsequent bid/tender with HAL. Lastly the enquiry officer is stated to have made several requests to M/s Aashmore Pvt. Ltd. and its promoters: Mr. Ashok Patni and Mr. Wolfram Krockow, for providing details of the accounts in which commissions were received from Rolls Royce, however, the said company and individuals did not extend cooperation to the enquiry. Based on the above-mentioned events and information, the enquiry officer prima facie concluded that M/s Aashmore Pvt. Ltd was hiding the corrupt public servants of HAL, ONGC and GAIL involved in the process of procurement and illegal gratification. Thus, the enquiry officer-Additional SP, CBI filed a complaint, based on which the CBI then registered the FIR/RC. The said FIR bearing no. FIR/RC No. AC-1 2019 A0004 is the subject matter of these cases.

5. After the registration of the FIR, the CBI moved an application before the Special Judge, CBI claiming that the payment of commission to M/s Aashmore Pvt. Ltd. by Rolls Royce was illegal and the same was made into three bank accounts in Singapore vis-a-vis HSBC Pvt. Bank, HSBC and United Overseas Bank. The case of the CBI was that, India and Singapore are members of the International Criminal Police Organization CRL.REF. 3/2021 & W.P.(CRL) 388/2022 Page 3 of 45 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed (‘INTERPOL’) which enables mutual assistance in criminal matters between