Delhi Court convicts former Nalco CMD Srivastava for money laundering

A Delhi court convicts former NALCO CMD Abhay Kumar Srivastava and others for money laundering under the PMLA in a case involving bribery linked to coal procurement

A Delhi court on Monday convicted Abhay Kumar Srivastava, former chairman and managing director (CMD) of the National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), for money laundering under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Nalco is a public sector undertaking (PSU). The court also convicted Srivastava’s wife Chandni.

 

Bhushan Lal Bajaj and his wife Anita Bajaj, who were accused of bribing Srivastava and his wife, were convicted too.

 

In 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Srivastava, his wife, Bajaj and his spouse in connection with irregularities and bribery in a tender floated for the purchase of 2 lakh tonnes of wash coal from Nalco's captive power plant at Angul in Odisha. The CBI alleged that Srivastava had been receiving bribes from suppliers through Bajaj for tenders approved by Nalco. 

 

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which registered a case under the PMLA based on the predicate case (CBI FIR), recovered 10 gold bars of 1 kg each from a locker used by Chandni. The said locker was opened based on forged documents and operated by impersonation in the name of Anita.

 

It was not necessary for the ED to separately prove the conversion of bribe amounts into gold bars as the recovery of the bars was in itself evidence of money laundering.

 

Rouse Avenue Court Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Shailender Malik said it is important to note that there cannot be direct evidence of a conspiracy hatched among accused persons.

 

“Therefore, this court is of the considered view that there is sufficient evidence on the record, establishing that all the accused conspired with each other in the commission of the offence of money laundering,” the court said.