NEW DELHI: A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in connection with a money laundering case, a Delhi court on Tuesday sent him to the agency’s custody till June 9.
Jain, who was arrested by the ED on Monday evening, was produced before a Special CBI court in New Delhi which sent him to 10 days in custody.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the ED while senior advocate N Hariharan argued for Jain in the Special CBI Court.
In the court of Judge Geetanjali Goel, Mehta moved an application for 14 days of Jain’s custody. Mehta also informed the court that the Delhi Minister was arrested after he remained evasive.
When the Judge asked Mehta why the agency needs 14 days, he replied: “There’s a chequered layer of money. We don’t know if he was laundering somebody else’s money. Who are other potential beneficiaries of this money laundering.”
After hearing the arguments, the Judge allowed Jain’s custody till June 9.
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Jain, the minister for health, power, home, PWD, industries, urban development, flood, irrigation and water in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government was arrested by the ED under the sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED official said he was arrested in connection with hawala transactions related to a Kolkata-based company.
In 2018, ED questioned the AAP MLA in connection with the case. The financial probe agency, in April this year, has attached properties worth Rs 4.81 crore of the family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by Jain in connection with a money-laundering probe.
In a statement, the ED said it has issued a provisional order under the PMLA for the attachment of the assets.
The “attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belong to Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Manglayatan Projects Pvt Ltd, JJ Ideal Estate Pvt Ltd, Swati Jain, wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, wife of Ajit Prasad Jain, and Indu Jain, wife of Sunil Jain.”
The probe found that “during the period 2015-16, when Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route”.
“These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for repayment of loan taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,” the ED had mentioned.
The ED case of money laundering against the AAP minister is based on a CBI FIR registered against Jain in August 2017 on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.