Delhi HC adjourns hearing bail plea of Satyendar Jain and his aides

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday adjourned hearing in bail plea of jailed Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain and co-accused Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.

On February 8, advocate Sushil Kumar Gupta appearing for Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain, the two aides of the Minister had concluded his submissions before a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma.

He had contended that in the present case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is just investigating the predicate offence and not the money laundering case, and that the ED had presumptively established a case of disproportionate assets (DA), but this could not be their case because the agency must first establish the existence of a scheduled offence.

Citing the Vijay Madan Lal Judgment of the apex court, Gupta had argued that the role that the ED has given to his clients (Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain) in the current case should be different from the CBI case, but the ED has accused them under the same rules.

He had further argued that the “proceeds of crime is the core” that needed to be established in the present case by the ED to have a case against his clients.

Earlier, Gupta, on behalf of his clients, had said: “We have been roped in because the company, as per the Enforcement Directorate, belonged to Satyendar Jain.”

He had added: “We are stating that it is our company, not Satyendar Jain’s.”

The Jains’ counsel had said that Satyendar Jain has nothing to do with the company and that all the companies belong to them.

Special Judge Vikas Dhull had denied the two bail on November 17 last year.

Earlier, Satyendar Jain’s counsel N. Hariharan had asked how is the minister involved in the present case and how is he related to it as the money belonged to Ankush and Vaibhav Jain, which came back to their account without any premium.

“My (Satyendar Jain’s) assets before and after the cheque period remained the same,” he had said.