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2022 (4) TMI 993 - HC - Money LaunderingMoney Laundering - conspiracy to obtain loan - fake documents - siphoning off the funds for personal use - scheduled offence - proceeds of crime - maintainability of criminal prosecution that has been launched by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 3 r/w 4 of PMLA - HELD THAT:- In this case, there is no shred of material to show that A8 to A15 had committed any criminal activity at all. A8 had purchased lands for his business from A4, A6 and A7 through their power agent Ayyappan and thereafter, he sold those lands to A9 to A15 for a valuable consideration. In this case, 166 acres of land is not the subject matter of crime. The subject matter of the criminal activity is obtaining the loan of ₹ 15 crores from GTFL by submitting forged documents. Therefore, the proceeds of the crime is ₹ 15 crores. A fraction of the sum of ₹ 15 crores viz., ₹ 1.07 crores was invested by Srinivasan in real estate by purchasing lands in the name of A4, A6 and A7. Thereafter, A4, A6 and A7 sold the lands through their power agent Ayyappan to Gunaseelan (A8) who in turn sold the lands to A9 to A15. It is most pertinent to state here that the FIR for the 'scheduled offence' was registered by the CBI only on 06.10.2010 and these sale transactions had taken place much before that. Therefore, by no stretch of imagination, the purchasers of the land could be expected to anticipate that the land that they are intending to purchase must have been purchased by their vendors with monies generated by a criminal activity. The prosecution of A8 to A15 for the offence under Section 3 r/w 4 of PMLA in C.C. No.62 of 2016 is an abuse of process of law - Petition allowed.
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