A Delhi court on Monday rejected charges filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in coal “scam” cases, stating that “an attempt to acquire proceeds of crime or anticipating undue benefits cannot be classified as money laundering.”
The case involved an application for the allotment of the Fatehpur East Coal Block for a proposed project. The ED accused Visa Minmetal AG of infusing ₹66.33 crore into Visa Power Ltd through equity shares. In addition to Visa Power Ltd, six other individuals, including officials from the coal ministry, were also named in the case.
Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj of the Rouse Avenue Court explained that Visa Power Ltd had not yet received any benefits from the coal block allocation. He noted that “undue benefits were only anticipated, not yet obtained,” and concluded, “no offence of money laundering under Section 3 of PMLA, 2002 is made out.”
In a separate case, the court also declined to accept a chargesheet against Adhunik Corporation Ltd (ACL) and its two directors, related to the New Patra Para coal block in Odisha.
Judge Bhardwaj ruled that “an attempt to acquire proceeds of crime or anticipating undue benefits cannot be considered money laundering,” as there were no proceeds of crime involved at the attempt stage. “There was no money available for laundering,” he added.
According to the ED, family members and group companies of the accused infused ₹50.37 crore into ACL under the guise of share capital, in anticipation of receiving undue benefits from the allocation of the coal block, which was linked to a criminal investigation conducted by the CBI.
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