PMLA court refuses to disbelieve Sachin Vaze’s statements

While dismissing the bail plea of Kundan Shinde, the special PMLA Judge M G Deshpande said that the statements given by the dismissed API to ED cannot be thrown out at this stage of bail

Mumbai A special PMLA court in Mumbai refused to disbelieve statements given by dismissed assistant police inspector (API) Sachin Vaze to the enforcement directorate (ED) and said that the statements cannot be thrown out at the stage of bail.

Court said Sachin Vaze’s statements cannot be thrown out merely because he is a person of doubtful integrity. (HT FIle)

While dismissing the bail plea of former home minister Anil Deshmukh’s personal assistant Kundan Shinde, the special PMLA Judge M G Deshpande said that the statements given by the dismissed API to ED cannot be thrown out at this stage of bail merely because he is a person of doubtful integrity.

“In order to draw a legal conclusion about the conduct of any person, a trial is the only remedy,” said the court, adding that, “Because, it is a mixed question of law and facts.”

The special judge said he had already held that there was a meeting in the house of the then home minister Deshmukh and Vaze, despite being a lower rank officer, took part in it. “Vaze also has boldly accepted that he paid cash to Shinde twice and this cannot be overlooked at this preliminary stage of bail,” said the court.

“It is also alleged that cash was transferred through hawala and then sent to trust in the form of donations. In this way, there is a clear case which indicates the generation of Proceeds of Crime, its placement, layering and integration for projecting tainted money as untainted.”

ED has arrested Shinde and Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande on June 26, 2021 in connection with money laundering case against Deshmukh.

Advocate Ejaz Khan, who represented Kundan Shinde, had argued that apart from Vaze’s statement, there was absolutely nothing against the personal assistant of the then home minister. Khan had contended that the statements of the dismissed API cannot be relied upon as they were actuated by malice.

The special court accepted that there was absolutely no corroboration to the statements, but added that collection of illegal money is basically a very secret process. “From the facts, it came out that there was a secret conspiracy amongst Anil Deshmukh, Sanjeev Palande, his personal secretary, dismissed inspector Vaze and (Kundan) Shinde,” said the court.

Vaze in his statements to ED had said that on Deshmukh’s instructions, he had collected ₹4.7 crores from some orchestra bar owners in Mumbai and handed over the amount to Shinde.