SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, March 23: The Jharkhand High Court has granted bail to ailing industrialist Ram Swarup Rungta, accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), of investing the proceeds of crime allegedly generated by former Chief Minister Madhu Koda in his company.
A bench of Justice Gautam Kumar Chaudhary said the complicity of Rungta appears to be writ large in the process of money laundering. However, considering the age and the nature of ailment of the petitioner the anticipatory bail application is allowed, the court said.
“This is a case where the scheduled offence was allegedly committed by the then Chief Minister Madhu Koda who was also holding the post of mining minister. Huge crime proceeds were invested in movable and immovable properties, within the country and also abroad, through a web of companies in layered manner to give it the colour of legitimacy,” the court observed in its order delivered on March 23.
“Rungta being the Director of one such company (Khalari Cements) by an elaborate process of Placement, Layering and Integration got a huge sum invested in his company which was the crime proceeds generated by the commission of scheduled offence,” the court has observed.
It is alleged that Madhu Koda acquired money through corrupt and illegal means and invested the crime proceeds in collusion with his accomplices in acquisition of properties, to remove the taint of the ill-gotten wealth generated by commission of the scheduled offence.
Earlier, the industrialist’s counsel Pandey Neeraj Rai submitted that the former being a senior citizen of about 85 years old has been suffering from many severe diseases including Prostate cancer.
“After investigation, the chargesheet has been submitted and that is no further requirement of custodial interrogation,” he pointed out.
Rai stated that Rungta has been implicated in this case on the basis of, a supplementary prosecution complaint, filed on 17.07.2018 by the ED against Khalari Cements Limited, apart from other companies.
He pleaded that the Rungta is in his twilight stage of life at an age of about 85 years and is presently battling prostate cancer. His Jail custody will seriously affect his ongoing treatment. Prosecution complaint has already been submitted and the accused was not arrested during the investigation.
Modus operandi for money laundering
The ED investigation revealed that proceeds of crime had been laundered not only through a group of persons but also through several legal entities viz. companies/firms both inside and outside India.
Opposing the bail application, ED’s counsel A.K Das submitted that whenever Vikash Sinha (a close aide of Koda) required money in his companies, he (Vikash Sinha) delivered cash by himself and his employees namely, Abhimanyu, Balaji Patil and others at Kolkata, or from the office of S. K. Naredi, Jamshedpur.
That, normally after receipt of the cash the same was delivered to other companies who used to give cheques in the name of his (Chandra Bhushan Jha’s) companies and from his companies cheques were issued to the companies belonging to Vikash Sinha, or any company or person as directed by Vikash Sinha, under the cover of share capital money or unsecured loan. The service charges varied from 2 to 4%, which he used to keep 0.25% out of it and balance was passed on to other companies providing cheques to his (Chandra Bhushan Jha) companies.
Purchase of share was sham and was only a ploy to invest the crime proceeds will be apparent from the fact that no share certificates were in possession and he was not aware whether any share certificates have been issued at all.
It was found that M/s Shivans Steel Pvt Ltd, M/s Kolhan Trading Pvt Ltd, and other companies along with Vikash Sinha were involved in the process of money-laundering. Cash was received and delivered to the companies who used to issue cheques in the name of Chandra Bhushan Jha and from his companies cheques were issued to the companies belonging to Vikas Sinha, who on his part invested about 6 crore in the company owned by R S Rungta in which he (Rungta) was Director at the relevant time and was responsible for day to day business/banking transactions of the said company. However, the share certificate was not issued with respect to the investments made. Rungta along with others had in this way projected the ill-gotten money of Madhu Koda as untainted, the ED said.
