Johari Released On Conditional Bail

Arvind Johari, promoter of the Lucknow-based Cyberspace, held on the charges of misappropriating Rs 32.08 crore of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), has been released on conditional bail by a special court today.

The designated judge, S R Mehra, asked Johari to furnish Rs 7.50 lakh with one or two sureties of the like amount. Johari has also been directed not to leave the country without the permission of the court and to co-operate with investigations.

He has been restrained from visiting the offices of UTI and financial institutions such as LIC, GIC, SBI Capital Markets and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The registrar of the court was directed to issue an urgent memo to the superintendent of central prison to hand over the custody of Johari on Wednesday morning to the Central Bureau of Investigation so that he could be taken to Lucknow for production in another case pending against him. The agency was given liberty to move the special court for producing Johari in the UTI case, whenever required.

Johari's lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani argued that his client was in custody since July 24 and had cooperated with the investigating agency. His custodial interrogation was not required because documents had already been seized by the CBI. CBI prosecutor Gopal Sharan contented that Johari was the brain behind the UTI scam and would tamper with evidence if bail was granted.

The judge observed that Johari's custodial interrogation was not necessary. His role vis-a-vis co-accused and his nexus with other persons or public financial institutions could be unearthed even if Johari was not in custody, the judge felt. "I am therefore inclined to grant him bail on certain terms and conditions," remarked Mehra.

The judge, however, made it clear that if Johari sought bail from the magistrate's court in Lucknow he should make himself available to the CBI in Mumbai as and when required. Perusing case dairies and remand application, the judge remarked, "They show that investigation is progressive and regular."

On August 7, the court granted bail to co-accused, former UTI chairman P S Subramanyam, suspended UTI executive directors S K Basu and M M Kapoor and stock broker Rakesh Mehta. The accused are charged with conspiracy to cause wrongful loss to the UTI by subscribing to 3,45,000 shares of Cyberspace in a private placement at an Rs 930 per share.

CBI alleged that UTI officials, Subramanyam, Kapoor and Basu had allegedly reversed their own decision taken earlier to reject the offer of buying these shares. The agency alleged that Johari had paid Rs 50 lakhs bribe to these officials through broker Rakesh Mehta to strike the deal.