Mumbai Court Denies Bail to 2 IL&FS Officials in Money Laundering Case

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Mumbai: A special court here on Tuesday denied bail to two former executives arrested in connection with the IL&FS financial irregularities case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

Former joint MD of the company, Arun K Saha, and MD of transportation network, K Ramchand, who were arrested in June under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), had sought bail on the ground that ED had missed the deadline to file the charge sheet. As per rules, the probe agency has to file a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) within 60 days of the arrest.

ED lawyer Sunil Gonsalves argued that the complaint was submitted on Friday, well within the stipulated time but it was stuck in administration. Even if the documents were not annexed to the complaint with the registry, it doesn’t entitle the accused to get bail, he told court.

Special Judge Prashant P Rajvaidya accepted ED’s submission and denied bail to Saha and Ramchand. The central agency had filed a money laundering case in February this year and had twice raided a number of former executives in order to obtain additional evidence.

The debt crisis at the infrastructure lender came to light following a series of defaults by its group companies beginning September, 2018. IL&FS has defaulted on payment of loans to SIDBI (Small industrial Development Bank of India), and along with its subsidiaries has a combined debt of over 91,000 crore.

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