The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a Chhattisgarh-based businessman to continue on bail till the end of his trial in a money laundering case while voicing scepticism about the starkly disproportionate ratio of 5,000 cases filed to a dismal 40 convictions secured by the Directorate of Enforcement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the past decade.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said Sunil Kumar Agarwal and his co-accused, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Sriram Parakkat, “deserve to continue on bail during the pendency of the trial”. They had been charged with money laundering in a case linked to coal transportation.
The court made its earlier orders of interim bail in May and July absolute.
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Justice Bhuyan referred to a statement made from the Treasury Bench of Parliament that “5000-odd cases were registered (under PMLA) and conviction was obtained only in 40 cases in 10 years”.
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Justice Kant questioned the quality of prosecution and evidence garnered in PMLA cases. The Bench reminded that ultimately a PMLA case had to be proved in a court of law.
The present case, Justice Kant said, solely relied on the statements given by a handful of persons. The court asked whether such people would be able to stand firm by their oral statements and pass muster before the court as reliable witnesses during trial.
Published - August 08, 2024 12:06 am IST
