ED opposes bail plea of two in black money racket case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today opposed the bail plea of two Delhi-based businessman, arrested in connection with its probe in a Rs 8,000-crore money laundering and black money racket case, saying that economic offences need to be dealt with sternly.
The agency told Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kapoor that the investigation is at an initial stage and if released on bail, accused Surendra Kumar Jain and his brother Virendra may tamper with the evidence.
The court has now put up the matter for further hearing on April 7.
The counsel appearing for the ED said that during their search, the agency seized various incriminating evidence.

"Economic offences are more serious than crimes like murder as the murder is committed in a fit of rage while the economic offences are pre-meditated.
"The money generated from crime can be used for anything, including terrorism," the agency's counsel said.

The ED had arrested the accused on March 20. It had claimed that at least 90 shell firms were under its scanner and it had identified 26 of them for allegedly laundering around Rs 62.20 crore.
The case emerged after the ED filed a criminal complaint last month under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a charge sheet of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office against certain individuals and firms.

The charge sheet had alleged these individuals and firms had provided "accommodation entries by accepting funds from their beneficiaries through mediators and converted the same into share premium transactions in the beneficiary company".
The ED had also recently attached assets valued at Rs 64.70 crore of a firm based here and this investment, it had said, is "managed by" Radisson Blu, a luxury hotel in the national capital.
It suspects the entire racket involves around Rs 8,000 crore of slush funds and has detected about half of it.
"The modus operandi of Jain brothers was to launder the unaccounted money through the process of placement of funds, layering of transactions and the final integration of laundering money into the banking channel camouflaged as legitimate share premium transactions.

"Funds were brought in by the mediators on behalf of the beneficiaries through the mediators. Jain Brothers were providing accommodation entries by accepting funds from their beneficiaries through mediators and converting the same into share premium transactions in the beneficiary company. In this process Jain Brothers earned money as a certain percentage of the unaccounted money converted into share premium," the ED had said.
It added during probe of some other firms "controlled" by these brothers, it has emerged that during a "short period of three months between the opening and closing of the accounts of these companies, there was credit and debit summations to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore."

"It was an attempt to merge these companies' sized up balance sheets with the listed Non-Banking Financial Companies so as to give accommodation entries to prospective beneficiaries on future dates," it had said.