NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has held that profits from cricket betting would constitute “proceeds of crime” under the anti-money laundering law.
A bench of justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar made the observation on November 24 while dismissing petitions challenging the probe agency’s decade-old order to attach ‘proceeds of crime (wealth generated in crime)’ in an alleged multi-crore international cricket betting scam. In September 2015, the ED provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 20 crore belonging to Vadodara-based Girish ‘Tommy’ Patel. The accused later challenged ED’s action before the HC.
Dismissing accused’s application, the court said, “For instance, if a person acquires any immovable property through acts of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy and thereafter utilises such property for a downstream activity, such as conducting an unlicensed real-estate business which is not a scheduled offence, the proceeds generated from the latter activity nonetheless constitute ‘proceeds of crime’ under Section 2(1) (u) of the PMLA.”
The taint attached to the property at its very inception, originated from a criminal activity relatable to a scheduled offence, persists throughout its subsequent use, the bench said. ED’s action followed an alleged international cricket betting and hawala racket run through a United Kingdom-based website.
The operation was being managed from a farmhouse near Vadodara by Patel and his associates, the probe agency said. In May 2015, Vadodara Police carried out searches at the farmhouse and at the homes of key associates in May 2015, the ED recovered cash, digital records and documents linked to illegal betting and unauthorised money transfers, the agency claimed.
Acting on the police FIR, the ED launched its proceedings, claiming that the network generated around Rs 2,400 crore in betting proceeds between December 2014 and March 2015.