Mumbai, April 7: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday asked the special MP and MLA court to hear the discharge application filed by NCP leader Rohit Pawar and others in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged MSC Bank fraud case, on merits.
ED submits reply on discharge plea
The ED on Tuesday submitted its reply on the discharge plea filed by Pawar along with other NCP leaders, Prajakt Tanpure and Subhash Deshmukh. The agency mentioned a chronology of the litigation from the time when the High Court had, in 2019, ordered the Mumbai Police to register the case, till the order of the special court passed last month accepting the closure report submitted by the EOW in the case.
Pending petition before High Court highlighted
The agency claimed that the court should also consider that its petition challenging the order of the special court, refusing to intervene in the hearing of the closure report submitted by the EOW, is still pending before the High Court.
Background of MSC Bank fraud case
The EOW had registered the case in August 2019, on the direction of the Bombay High Court (HC) while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Andheri-based businessman Surinder Arora. On the basis of this case, the ED too began the probe for money laundering.
After the probe, the EOW, in September 2020, submitted its first closure report. The ED had sought to intervene in the hearing on the closure report, questioning the EOW’s probe. The plea was rejected, which the ED later challenged before the High Court, which is still pending.
Second closure report and legal proceedings
Later, the agency again took up investigation based on issues raised by Arora and the ED. Even after the reinvestigation, it filed a second closure report in 2022. The ED again sought to intervene, but the same was rejected.
The special court had last month accepted the closure report submitted by the Economic Offences Wing first in September 2020 and subsequently in 2022, in the alleged MSC Bank fraud case.
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Accused seek discharge after closure of predicate offence
Since the predicate offence is closed, the money laundering case under PMLA cannot survive; hence, the accused moved the court for discharge.
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