Prima facie glaring material showing his involvement: Court as it rejects bail to city bizman Nihal Garware in J&K Bank case

A special court on Monday denied bail to city industrialist Nihal Garware in a money laundering case concerning Jammu & Kashmir Bank. In a detailed order on Wednesday, the court said that the facts demonstrate a classic case of money laundering and that there is prima facie glaring material showing his involvement. Mr Garware was arrested in March of this year.

Special Judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), MG Deshpande, said in the order that Mr Garware also purchased a Delhi property from the proceeds of crime. 

Judge Deshpande said money laundering is a serious threat to the wealth and economy of the nation. He added that illegal gratification or brokerage earned by the accused is huge public money entrusted with J&K Bank and huge amounts involved in money laundering is with him. There is every possibility that he will influence witnesses, it said.

As per the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case, Mr Garware being an additional director in J&K Bank had played a key role in buying a 42,000sqft property in Bandra Kurla Complex for the zonal office of the bank at Rs26,000 per sqft. The deal of Rs172 crore was allegedly made at an exorbitant price when there was a lower bidder, as Mr Garware got a kickback of around Rs13 crore from the seller-builder. The businessman later allegedly also layered and projected the money as untainted.

Referring to statements of witnesses in the case, the court said they “speak volumes” and that they prima facie indicate how the tainted brokerage charges were collected by him and how he tried to pose them as untainted. 

The court found he had indulged in a money laundering technique called ‘smurfing’ in which large amounts of cash are structured into multiple small transactions over different accounts to avoid detection. The court called it a “classic case of money laundering”.