2G money laundering case: HC seeks ED reply on firms' plea on assets

The Delhi High Court today sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea by two companies, which were acquitted in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam, seeking modification of an earlier order for maintaining status quo regarding the release of their attached properties.

The plea came up for hearing before Justice S P Garg who listed it for further hearing on July 27.

The firms Eversmile Construction Company Pvt Ltd and Conwood Construction & Developers Pvt Ltd, represented through senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, sought modification of the March 21 order of the high court and claimed that the ED has attached assets more than what was required.

The high court had on March 21 said that "status quo as obtains today shall be maintained by the parties regarding the release of attached property".

The court's order had come while seeking response of former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 17 others on the appeal of ED challenging their acquittal in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam case.

Today Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, opposed the plea of the two firms and said the agency will file its response to it.

The high court had earlier allowed the interim plea of the ED for maintaining status quo with regard to the properties worth around Rs 223 crore which the agency had attached in the money laundering case.

The ED did not want the properties to be released from attachment, saying that third party rights might be created in them.

On March 19, the ED had moved the high court challenging the special court's order acquitting all the accused in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam. A day later, the CBI too had challenged in the high court the acquittal of the accused in the case.

A special court on December 21 last year had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the CBI and ED cases.

The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd (STPL) promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV, while the CBI had alleged there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for the 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on February 2, 2012.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case.

It had also acquitted those including former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case.