Mumbai: Bombay High Court has quashed a 2016 case of alleged money laundering against D B Realty Ltd and its managing director Vinodkumar Goenka in criminal proceedings linked to former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the Maharashtra Sadan construction controversy.A single-judge bench of Justice Ashwin Bhobe, in the July 21 judgment, quashed a special court’s 2019 order for issuing process and rejecting the discharge pleas of Goenka and D B Realty, who were accused in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case registered in 2016 against Bhujbal and others.For Goenka and D B Realty, senior counsel Vikram Nankani and Aabad Ponda, along with advocates Parimal Shroff and Sajal Yadav, said Parvesh Construction Pvt Ltd and Bhujbal have already been discharged in the case. The transactions “do not constitute proceeds of crime’’, the special trial court had held when discharging Parvesh Construction, thus, no offence now stands against Goenka and DB Realty too, Nankani argued. Justice Bhobe accepted it.The HC was informed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has not challenged the discharge orders. But while the ED did not challenge Bhujbal’s discharge, activist Anjali Damania did before the HC, where it is pending.The genesis of the criminal investigation arose from a public interest litigation filed by BJP’s Kirit Somaiya in 2012 and Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 against Bhujbal and others, alleging misuse of public post and receiving kickbacks in award of contracts by the public works department.In 2015, three FIRs were registered against Bhujbal and others, but not against Goenka and D B Realty, the HC noted. These cases led to the ED registering PMLA cases against Goenka and D B Realty alleging that “they knowingly entered into a sham real estate transaction connected with the proceeds of crime generated by main accused Bhujbal and others”.The HC noted that the ED alleged that one “Lalit Tekchandani offered the petitioners 50% partnership in a proposed 25-acre development project in which Sameer Bhujbal (Bhujbal’s nephew) was involved. Pursuant to this arrangement, D B Realty paid Rs 5 crore to Parvesh Construction as an advance for land acquisition. Although…Rs 5 crore was later refunded by Parvesh Construction (to D B Realty), the transaction was not a genuine investment, but was designed to conceal and channelise tainted funds derived from the scheduled offence, thereby projecting those funds as legitimate”.The HC found merit in Nankani’s submissions that the discharge order had become final, and held that since allegations against Goenka and D B Realty relate to transactions with Parvesh Construction, the ED case against them is quashed.
