A Delhi court on Monday refused to take cognizance of the chargesheets by the ED in the coal “scam” cases, saying “the proceeds of crime or an attempt to obtain undue benefit cannot be termed as money laundering”.
In a case related to the application for allotment of Fatehpur East Coal Block for the proposed project, the ED alleged investment of `66.33 crore in equity shares by Visa Minmetal AG in Visa Power Limited. In the said case, 6 people including the then official of Coal Ministry along with Visa Power Limited were accused.
Special Judge Arun Bharadwaj of the Rouse Avenue court said, “… M/s Visa Power Limited did not derive any other benefit from the allocation of the coal block in question,” adding, “The company was to receive unfair benefits and only conjecture.”
“… No offense of money laundering has been committed under Section 3 of PMLA, 2002,” the judge said.
In another case, the court refused to take cognizance of the chargesheet against Modern Corporation Limited and two of its directors in a case related to the new Patra Para coal block in Odisha.
“Proceeds of crime or attempt to obtain undue advantage cannot be covered by the definition of money laundering because there is no realization of the crime until the stage of attempt or expectation of unfair advantage. Money was not available for laundering,’ said the judge.
According to the ED, family members and group companies of the accused invested `50.37 crore “in the garb of share capital in ACL” with the expectation that ACL would “obtain or derive undue benefit”, or as a result, criminal activities related to scheduled offenses (filed by the CBI). resulting in the allocation of coal blocks.
Why should you buy our membership?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be confused and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package