Economic Offences & Money-Laundering: Supreme Court On Refusal To Grant Anticipatory Bail To High-Profile Accused
Published by Taxmann Publications in 'Sebi & Corporate Laws' Journal
by
Delep Goswami, FCS, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi
and
Anirrud Goswami, Advocate, Goswami & Goswami Advocates, New Delhi
Published on December 20, 2019 by Taxmann Publications
[2019] 112 taxmann.com 242 (Article) 174 Views
Introduction
1. In the wake of recent spate of cases of "economic offences" by high profile offenders and protracted litigations on whether to grant pre-arrest bail/regular bail to such offenders and the Courts holding different views at different times depending on the facts and circumstances of such cases, it has become necessary to highlight some broad parameters and principles being followed by the Courts on this important subject. This article is limited to the reasons for refusal to grant anticipatory bail. It is hoped that professionals dealing with this subject will greatly benefit from the discussions on this subject.
Supreme Court on What Constitutes an "Economic Offence":--
2. Observing that economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the case of bail, in Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. CBI (2013-7-SCC-439), the Supreme Court of India has held as under :-
"34. Economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. The economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the financial health of the country.
35. While granting bail, the Court has to keep in mind the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the public/State and other similar considerations."
Appeal in the Supreme Court against Delhi High Court's order refusing to grant anticipatory bail:--
3. In Criminal Appeal No.1340/2019 filed in the Supreme Court in re: P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement, the appeal related to the alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to INX Media Private Limited for receiving foreign investment to the tune of Rs. 305 crores against approved inflow of Rs. 4.62 crores. The High Court of Delhi rejected the appellant's plea for anticipatory bail in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under Section 120B, read with Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and under Section 8 and Section 13(2), read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. By the impugned order dated 20.8.2019, the High Court also refused to grant anticipatory bail in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in case registered vide ECIR No.07/HIU/2017 punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). The appellant was arrested and remanded to custody in the CBI case and, hence, the appellant could not seek anticipatory bail after he was arrested.
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