NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has declined to take cognisance of a chargesheet against Adhunik Corporation Limited (ACL) and its two directors, Mahesh Kumar Agarwal and Nirmal Kumar Agarwal, in a coal scam case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The court held that merely attempting to acquire proceeds of crime or anticipating undue benefits does not constitute money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj provided relief to ACL and its directors in the case linked to the allocation of the New Patra Para coal block in Odisha.
The ED alleged that Rs 50.37 crore was infused into ACL through family members and group companies in anticipation of benefits from criminal activity related to a scheduled offence registered by the CBI.
The judge, in the order, noted that the ED’s own findings indicated that any undue benefits were merely anticipated, and no actual proceeds of crime were in existence. “An attempt to acquire proceeds of crime or anticipating undue benefits cannot be considered money laundering as there are no proceeds of crime at that stage,” the judge ruled.
The court further observed that the capital infusion by family members and group companies began even before the alleged conspiracy related to the predicate offence. Additionally, no external investors had funded ACL due to the coal block allocation. As such, the investments could not be categorised as “proceeds of crime” under PMLA.
The court highlighted that even after the de-allocation of the coal block seemed imminent due to lack of progress, family members and group companies continued their investments, which reinforced the view that these were independent of the alleged criminal activity.
This decision comes after the accused were convicted in a related corruption case filed by the CBI, where they were sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy and cheating the government. However, their jail term was stayed by the Delhi High Court pending appeals against their conviction.