NEW DELHI: A special court on Tuesday, rejected the bail plea of Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering case.
Opposing his plea, the Enforcement Directorate informed Special Judge Arvind Kumar that Khaitan was “controlling” the modus operandi and was responsible for routing money.
The ED has already attached assets worth Rs 8.46 crore of Khaitan, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam case, as a part of a second criminal probe against him for allegedly possessing undisclosed foreign accounts.
Khaitan was misusing his connections and clients, including the ones inherited from his father, to launder money through a variety of accounts in Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore, Tunisia, Switzerland, the UK and India, it said.
The ED officials said the accounts included those belonging to his undisclosed shell companies outside India.
Khaitan, in judicial custody, was arrested on January 25, a week after the Income Tax Department conducted raids on his offices and various other properties in Delhi and the National Capital Region.
Khaitan was earlier arrested in September 2014 for his alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. He got bail in January 2015 and was again arrested along with Sanjeev Tyagi, another accused in the case, on December 9, 2016, by the CBI. He later secured bail.
The CBI charge sheet had described Khaitan as the brain behind the AgustaWestland deal.