Fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi were able to escape from the country because of the failure of the investigating agencies to arrest them on time, a Mumbai Court said on May 30.
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MAHARASHTRA: A Mumbai Court noted that fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Mehul Choksi were able to flee the country due to the failure of investigating agencies to arrest them on time.
This statement was made on May 30 by Judge MG Deshpande, a special judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), during a hearing involving a bail condition modification request by an accused who sought permission to travel abroad for professional reasons.
The accused in question, Vyomesh Shah, had filed an application seeking relaxation of his bail conditions to facilitate his professional travel abroad. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), represented by Advocate Sunil Gonsalves, opposed this application, arguing that granting such a request could lead to a scenario similar to those involving “Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Mehul Choksi.”
In response to this argument, Judge Deshpande remarked that the escape of these businessmen was due to the investigative agencies’ inability to arrest them in a timely manner.
“I thoughtfully examined this argument and felt it necessary to note that all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at proper time,”
-the judge recorded in his order.
Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, currently residing in the UK, have been declared Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) by Mumbai courts for their involvement in substantial financial scams. Meanwhile, Mehul Choksi is presently in Dominica, with the ED having filed an application to also declare him an FEO.
The case at hand involved Vyomesh Shah, an accused in a 2022 money laundering case. Shah was summoned to court after the ED filed a chargesheet, and he was subsequently released on bail with specific conditions, including the requirement to furnish personal bonds and sureties. One of the bail conditions was that Shah could not leave the country without the court’s permission.
Shah’s present plea sought modification of this condition, arguing that his professional duties necessitated frequent international travel, making it impractical to seek the court’s permission each time. After considering the application, Judge Deshpande granted Shah’s request, emphasizing that the court could not compensate for the ED’s shortcomings.
“It is the ED which basically allows such person to be scot free without any apprehensions of his travelling abroad, tampering and hampering evidence, flight risk, apprehension of dealing with complaint and assisting the said process etc. but for the first time when such person appears before the Court all such contentions and objections astonishingly crop up before the Court. So, this Court has repeatedly taken firm stand that, the Court cannot do what the ED basically failed to do,” ,
-the judge observed.
However, the judge stipulated that Shah must inform the ED of his travel schedule and itinerary before every trip.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Nirav Modi
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Vijay Mallya
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