Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, Section 436A, 439 – Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Section 3, 4, 45 and 50 – Bail – Money Laundering – Statements of witnesses recorded by Prosecution–ED are admissible in evidence in view of Section 50 – Such statements may make out a formidable case about the involvement of the accused in the commission of the offence of money laundering – Appellant-Satyendar Kumar Jain had conceptualized idea of accommodation entries against cash and was responsible for the accommodation entries totalling to Rs. 4.81 crores (approx.)received through the Kolkata based entry operators in the bank accounts of the four named companies by paying cash and the said companies were controlled and owned by him and his family -Lifting of corporate veil is permissible when such corporate structures have been used for committing fraud or economic offences or have been used as a facade or a sham for carrying out illegal activities – Appellants – Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain had assisted the appellant-Satyendar Kumar Jain by making false declarations under the IDS each of them declaring alleged undisclosed income of Rs.8.26 crores in order to protect Satyendar Kumar Jain -Appellants have miserably failed to satisfy that there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are not guilty of the alleged offences – On the contrary, there is sufficient material collected by the respondent-ED to show that the yare prima facie guilty of the alleged offences – It is not possible to hold that appellants had complied with the twin mandatory conditions laid down in Section 45 of PMLA – High Court also in the impugned judgment after discussing the material on record had prima facie found the appellants guilty of the alleged offences under the PMLA, which judgment does not suffer from any illegality or infirmity – The appellants were released on bail for temporary period after their arrest and the appellant-Satyendar Kumar Jain was released on bail on medical ground on 30.05.2022, which has continued till this day – He shall now surrender forthwith before the Special Court – Right to speedy trial and access to justice is a valuable right enshrined in the Constitution of India, and provisions of Section 436A of the Cr.P.C. would apply with full force to the cases of money laundering falling under Section 3 of the PMLA, subject to the Provisos and the Explanation contained therein. (Para 20, 24, 28 and 33)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
2024 STPL(Web) 177 SC
[2024 INSC 217]
Satyendar Kumar Jain Vs. Directorate Of Enforcement
Criminal Appeal No. 1638 OF 2024 (@ Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.6561 of 2023) With Criminal Appeal No. 1639 of 2024 (@Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 7129 OF 2023) And Criminal Appeal No. 1640 of 2024 (@ Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.7130 OF 2023 –Decided on 18-03-2024
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