Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan, who has been accused of massive money laundering, will now file a bail application in the Bombay High Court here after the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday refused to grant him bail. The court rejected the bail application of both Mr. Khan and co-accused, Kashinath Tapuriah.
“The bail application has been rejected,” Principal Judge Swapna S. Joshi said. She also dismissed an application for intervention filed by social activist Ishwar Prasad Khandelwal.
“I had filed an intervention application for opposing Hasan Ali's bail application. My application was in favour of the State. The court may have rejected it because I am a third person,” Mr. Khandelwal told The Hindu .
“We will file a bail application in the High Court tomorrow [Saturday],” Mr. Khan's lawyer, I.A. Bagaria, told The Hindu .
Criminal conspiracy
The Enforcement Directorate argued in the court that both Mr. Tapuriah and Mr. Khan had hatched a criminal conspiracy with Adnan Khashoggi, an international arms dealer, which amounted to ‘waging war against the country.'
Ujjwal Nikam, appearing for the ED, also submitted that both the accused had laundered $93 million in foreign banks.
Counsel for Mr. Tapuriah and Mr. Khan argued that PMLA could not be applied retrospectively. “We argued that there were no sale proceeds from any arms deal with Khashoggi. Thus the contention of the prosecution of waging war against the country is novel and misguided,” Mr. Bagaria said.
