PMLA: Not the first instance of accused getting relief in absence of ‘scheduled offence’

In the recent past, there have been a few cases, where scheduled offences have been closed or the person’s discharge plea accepted – a fact that is likely to affect the ED’s case in light of the top court order.

In one of the most recent orders, a special court, last month, accepted a closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against bank officials of Union Bank of India and certain private firms, including Pushpak Bullions Private Limited, in a 2017 case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed the CBI closure report, absolving all the accused, but the court accepted the agency’s report that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations that cash to the tune of Rs 84.6 crore was fraudulently shown in a current account of a bank account by fabricating records. The ED case is pending before the special PMLA court with hearing pending in the discharge pleas of the accused. In March, the ED had provisionally attached 11 residential flats of Pushpak Bullions at a real estate project developed by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, a company promoted by Shridhar Madhav Patankar, the brother of Rashmi Thackeray, wife of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Last year, a special court designated for trials of MPs and MLAs discharged Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister and then Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal from the Maharashtra Sadan case, which was being investigated by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Based on this scheduled offence, the ED had registered a separate complaint and arrested Bhujbal in 2016 where he remained for over two years before being granted bail. Discharge applications by the accused in the ED case are pending.

In 2020, a closure report was filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), giving a clean chit to 74 persons it was probing, including NCP minister and then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, in connection with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) alleged fraud case. The ED had then sought to intervene in the proceedings to oppose the plea, which the court had rejected stating that it cannot intervene in the probe of another agency. The hearing on protest petitions filed by other parties is pending before court after which a decision on whether the closure report can be accepted will be taken.

In 2021, a closure report was also filed in a cheating case filed by the Mumbai police against Jet Airways, its founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita. Even as the ED opposed it, the court had accepted the report.

In the case heard on Monday, a closure report in a case linked to Omkar Realtors was accepted by a local court in Aurangabad. The accused referred to the case, pleading that the PMLA case against them does not stand. The ED sought time to respond to the plea that had cited the Supreme Court’s order. The special court will pass a final order on the plea by the accused after hearing both sides.