TMI Blog2022 (12) TMI 827X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onstitutional validity and applicability of restrictive conditions of bail provided under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, has held that money laundering is an offence against the sovereignty and integrity of the country. The allegations against the petitioner are serious in nature. The complaint was filed only after detailed investigation report. The said investigation reveals the petitioner s involvement in 88 Companies of SRS Group. The Directors of the said Companies, including the petitioner, had submitted false statements of the debtors, inflated purchase and sale figures and deliberately concealed the material facts. The said Companies are accused of siphoning off the funds to the tune of Rs.671.48 crore and diverting the funds of Rs.645.86 crore from SRS Group of Companies by way of separate/distinct transactions. The petitioner does not deserve the concession of bail - Petition dismissed. - CRM-M-25345-2022 (O&M) - - - Dated:- 9-12-2022 - HON BLE MR. JUSTICE HARNARESH SINGH GILL Present: Mr. Anjum Ahmed, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms. Puneeta Sethi, Senior Panel Counsel for the respondent. HARNARESH SINGH GILL, J. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er Kumar Gupta; Praveen Sharma; Lalit Khosla, Dinesh Kumar; Abhishek Goyal, Deepak Garg and Bhagwat Dayal are on interim bail. On these grounds, the counsel for the petitioner would seek the grant of bail to the petitioner. Per contra, learned Senior Panel Counsel for the respondent, while vehemently opposing the bail petition, contends that in the present case, total eighty eight Companies were involved (consisting of SRS Group and Non-SRS Group), which on the basis of false and fabricated statements, obtained loans from different banks and did not repay the same to the tune of Rs.1596.94 crores. She further contends that there was sufficient material on record to prove that SRS Limited and its various companies were being controlled by Anil Jindal, Bishan Bansal, Nanak Chand Tayal, Sushil Singla and Rajesh Singla, J.K. Garg and P.K.Garg; that the petitioner was/is a Director/Additional Director five companies associated with SRS Group and an amount of Rs.645.86 crore had been diverted from SRS Group of Companies by way of separate/distinct transactions. It is further contended that the investigation report would reveal that the Directors of the non-SRS Companies were mostly em ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... liable under Section 447. (emphasis supplied). A perusal of sub Section (b) aforesaid would show that the offence under Section 448 would entail the punishment under Section 447 of the Companies Act, 2013. The economic offences, being against the Society at large, have been strictly dealt with in the recent past. Very recently, the Hon ble Apex Court in Vijay Mandanlal Choudhary Ors. Vs. Union of India Ors. (2022 SCC OnLine SC 929), while considering the constitutional validity and applicability of restrictive conditions of bail provided under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, has held that money laundering is an offence against the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Reliance of the petitioner and his seeking parity with the co-accused, earlier granted the concession of bail, is of no help as in the said case, such concession was granted before the judgment of the Hon ble Supreme Court in Vijay Mandanlal Choudhary s case (supra). The Hon ble Supreme Court, in the said judgment, has held as under:- 129. xxxxxx This portion of the judgment of the Constitution Bench has not been noticed in Nikesh Tarachand Shah. Further ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the heinous crimes, which not only affects the social and economic fabric of the nation, but also tends to promote other heinous offences, such as terrorism, offences related to NDPS Act, etc. It is a proven fact that international criminal network that support home grown extremist groups relies on transfer of unaccounted money across nation States Ram Jethmalani Ors. Vs. Union of India Ors., (2011) 8 SCC 1, thus, by any stretch of imagination, it cannot be said that there is no compelling State interest in providing stringent conditions of bail for the offence of money-laundering. In Ram Jethmalani Ors. Vs. Union of India Ors., (2011) 8 SCC 1 , the Court expounded the theory of soft state which is used to describe a nation which is not capable of preventing the offence of money-laundering. xx xxx xx 139. Therefore, as noted above, investigation in an economic offence, more so in case of money-laundering, requires a systematic approach. Further, it can never be the intention of the Parliament to exclude the operation of Section 45 of 2002 Act in the case of anticipatory bail, otherwise, it will create an unnecessary dichotomy between bail and anticipat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inquiry or trial under this Code of an offence under any law (not being an offence for which the punishment of death has been specified as one of the punishments under that law) undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under that law, he shall be released by the Court on his personal bond with or without sureties: Provided that the Court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor and for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, order the continued detention of such person for a period longer than one-half of the said period or release him on bail instead of the personal bond with or without sureties: Provided further that no such person shall in any case be detained during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the said offence under that law. Explanation.-In computing the period of detention under this section for granting bail, the period of detention passed due to delay in proceeding caused by the accused shall be excluded.] In the Statement of Objects and Reasons, it was stated thus: xxx xxx xxx 143. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n pending trial becomes unduly long, the fairness assured by Article 21 would receive a jolt. It is because of this that we have felt that after the accused persons have suffered imprisonment which is half of the maximum punishment provided for the offence, any further deprivation of personal liberty would be violative of the fundamental right visualised by Article 21, which has to be telescoped with the right guaranteed by Article 14 which also promises justness, fairness and reasonableness in procedural matters. ... 144. The Union of India also recognized the right to speedy trial and access to justice as fundamental right in their written submissions and, thus, submitted that in a limited situation right of bail can be granted in case of violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. Further, it is to be noted that the Section 436A of the 1973 Code was inserted after the enactment of the 2002 Act. Thus, it would not be appropriate to deny the relief of Section 436A of the 1973 Code which is a wholesome provision beneficial to a person accused under the 2002 Act. However, Section 436A of the 1973 Code, does not provide for an absolute right of bail as in the case of default b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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