PMLA court grants bail to Jignesh Shah

A special court on Saturday granted bail to Jignesh Shah, the promoter of Financial Technologies (India) who was arrested in the Rs 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case.

Shah was arrested on July 13 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate. After five days of ED custody, he was sent to judicial custody.

"We argued on three grounds for Shah's bail. First, ED had already filed an application, following which the court needs to issue a warrant for his arrest. The judicial system was not followed in this case, "said Tushad Cooper, counsel for Jignesh Shah.

"Second, when Shah was arrested earlier, the detailed court order for his bail talks nothing about money trail. Taking that as a ground, we argued he cannot be arrested twice for the old complaint. Since, no fresh allegation was mentioned, he should not be in custody anymore," Cooper said, adding that for the previous allegation, the Bombay High Court had already granted bail to him. So, the same logic should apply now.

"Third, the promoter of the largest defaulter in this case P D Agroprocessors was granted bail. In spite of money trail was clearly established in the case of PD, its promoter got bail. The same parity should apply with Shah for his bail," Cooper said. Meanwhile, the NSEL Investors Action Group (NIAG) has again written letter to ED and other government agencies, exhibiting its dissatisfaction over court granting relief to FTIL and allowing access to FTIL account for necessary expenses, including employee's salary and legal ones.