CHENNAI: Reviving the case registered against lottery baron Santiago Martin, his wife and two others in connection with the seizure of Rs 7.20 crore unaccounted cash, the Madras High Court has ordered the state police and the Enforcement Directorate to hold probes in tandem so as to ensure the criminal case is taken to its logical end.
The order passed by a division bench of Justices S M Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam on Monday, on the petition filed by ED praying for setting aside the order passed by a judicial magistrate court to close the 2012 case registered regarding the seizure, is considered a boost to the central agency.
The predicate offence case was registered by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Greater Chennai Police in 2012 following the seizure of Rs 7.20 crore unaccounted cash on March 12, 2012, from the premises of one Nagarajan and Moorthy linked to Martin. However, they had claimed to have obtained the money through sale of a property to Martin’s wife Leema Rose.
The alleged sale agreement was entered into on March 2, 2012, but the stamp paper used in the agreement was released by the government on March 9 and was sold by the stamp vendor on March 13, eight days after the sale agreement was made.
The CCB registered a case under various sections of the IPC for cheating, forging documents and hatching a criminal conspiracy. The ED came into the scene by registering a case of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2016 based on the predicate offence.
The accused persons’ attempts to wriggle out of the case turned futile after several rounds of litigations. However, the judicial magistrate court in Alandur closed the case in 2022 based on a closure report filed by the police.
The division bench, in its order, termed it a clear case of cheating by amassing money by sale of illegally printed lottery tickets and found that a “schematic approach” was adopted by the accused persons “to escape” from the clutches of PMLA proceedings.
The bench reiterated its stand that once the proceeds of crime is traced out by the ED and complaint under PMLA is filed, the offence of money laundering has become a stand alone offence and the proceedings are to be carried forward by the agency.
It noted that for initiation of PMLA proceedings, predicate offence is required. During the pendency of complaint under PMLA, if the predicate offence is closed, as in the present case, it results in miscarriage of justice. The ED is well within its rights to place the facts before the High Court by instituting petition under Section 482 of CrPC to meet the ends of justice, the bench said.
The court held that the state agency has made an attempt to “bury the predicate offence case” against the accused persons in “a suspicious manner and on extraneous considerations” which are visible through their actions including filing of closure report. It quashed the closure order passed by the judicial magistrate and directed the police and ED to move forward with the probe.
