HC notice to ED on Satyendar Jain’s money laundering case transfer

On Friday, a trial court transferred the money laundering case against Jain to a new judge. Within a few hours, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator moved the high court, challenging the transfer.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday sought Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) response on a petition filed by Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, challenging a trial court order transferring a money laundering case against him and others to a new judge.

The case against Satyendar Jain is based on a 2017 CBI FIR. Jain is a minister in the the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi. (HT Photo)

Justice Yogesh Khanna issued notice to the central agency and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday after additional solicitor general SV Raju, who represented ED, sought time.

Senior advocate N Hari Haran, who appeared for Jain, objected to the grant of time and said that Jain’s bail application has been pending for a long time. He said that arguments were made for over a month before the case was transferred to another judge.

“The bail application has to be decided. The sessions’ court order says that the judge is honest and upright, then why did it transfer the case. Where is the question of bias? It sends a wrong message from top to bottom,” the senior counsel argued.

The court has now kept the matter for final disposal on Wednesday.

On Friday, a trial court transferred the money laundering case against Jain to a new judge. Within a few hours, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator moved the high court, challenging the transfer.

The trial court order came on an ED application which had sought transfer on the account of “bias”. The overall circumstances could raise apprehension of a probable bias, principal and sessions judge Vinay Kumar Gupta said on Friday, while transferring the case to special judge Vikas Dhull from special judge Geetanjali Goel, who had been hearing the case since Jain’s arrest.

“In my considered opinion, the judge is a very upright officer. However, all the circumstances taken together are sufficient to raise a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the petitioner as a common man, not of any actual bias, but of a probable bias…,” the trial court said in its order.

However, Jain’s lawyer, Rahul Mehra, had objected to the move, calling it “illegal”. “The investigating agency tried to get it transferred at the fag end (of the bail hearing) to another judge, for some reasons unknown to us. The Supreme Court had directed that this (ED’s application for transfer) has to be decided in a day,” senior advocate Rahul Mehra had told the high court on Friday, seeking urgent listing of the petition against the transfer.

“The district and sessions judge has decided the case yesterday and the order has been handed to us today. It (listing of the case) is urgent because the trial court judge has directed to decide the bail plea within a week..Now this transfer is completely illegal and bad in law,” Mehra submitted.

The case is based on a 2017 CBI FIR lodged against the minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. ED has accused him of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him and where he was holding shares, while amassing disproportionate income.

According to ED, Jain transferred money to Kolkata through hawala channel and got it back from dummy companies in the form of accommodation entries, even though he could not show the source of the money received.

According to the charge sheet, out of 10 accused, four are private firms and six individuals are accused in this case, including Satyendar Jain and his wife Poonam Jain. Recently, the court took cognisance of the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by ED against Satyendar Jain, his wife and eight others including four firms in connection with the money laundering case.