Stating that there is strong prima facie material which points to his involvement in the offence of money laundering which is ‘very serious’, a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has rejected the bail application of alleged red sanders smuggler Badshah Malik.
Malik had sought bail claiming false implication. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed his bail plea and stated that there is abundant evidence indicating his involvement in offences under the PMLA.
The court also referred to Malik’s antecedents which it said indicate that he is repeatedly involved in serious economic offences. “Huge public money of the nation is involved in the process of laundering at the hands of the applicant. In fact, the nation is the victim of such crimes,” special PMLA judge MG Deshpande said in the order. In referring to his antecedents, the court mentioned his own statement to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wherein he had stated about his arrest in July 2005 in a duty drawback case and his arrest in 2015 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for smuggling red sanders.
The court also noted that investigation papers and documents with the complaint prima-facie indicate that the applicant has a criminal background. Previously, he was found involved in smuggling of Red Sanders and therefore, a scheduled offence was registered against him, it said.
Judge Deshpande said that the modus operandi used by him clearly denotes the generation of proceeds of crime as defined under the PMLA.
The ED has alleged that the money generated by smuggling red sanders was distributed in the accounts of fake companies and from these, it was routed to a firm Empire Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd., of which Malik and his family members hold a huge chunk of shares. The firm is named an accused in the case too.
