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A Special Court of Delhi has dismissed the regular bail plea moved by Perwez Ahmad, President, Popular Front of India (PFI) Delhi, arrested for his alleged involvement in the offence of money laundering in the guise of cash donations.
The Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh in an order passed on March 18, 2024 stated that the applicant/accused could not overcome the threst hold stipulation predicated in section 45 of PMLA. Hence, present bail application is disposed of as dismissed. Meanwhile, the Court also reserved the order on bail petitions moved by Md. Ilias (General Secretary PFI Delhi) & Abdul Muqeet (Office Secretary, PCI, Delhi) in the same case. Court noted that, in the present matter also, multiple statements under section 50 of PMLA were recorded by ED. These statements include statements of applicant/accused and statements of co-accused. Applicant/accused has stated that he did not follow up the collection of donations and was not directly involved in dealing with accounts. However, this portion of statement is to be read in context of role of State President in terms of Constitution of PFI. It stipulates that State President shall supervise the activities of the organization within the jurisdiction of State. Thus, bare denial on the part of applicant/accused will not absolve him of the role already played in PFI. It was also argued that applicant/accused did not have authority to deal with Bank Accounts. In this regard, again the covenant for Bank account of PFI in its constitution is of significance and consequence. At point 22 of said constitution of PFI, it is set out that the bank account of society shall be jointly operated at central and State levels by concerning office bearer including State President. It is stated that PFI did not have bank account at Delhi. However, constitution stipulates as to bank account of organization and not of state unit. Thus, this argument on behalf of accused/ applicant does not hold water, further noted the court. Advocate N. K. Matta, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) alogwithe Advocate Mohd Faizan appeared for the Enforcement Directorate in the matter According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Delhi Unit of Popular Front of India (PFI) Perwez Ahmad, President, Delhi PFI since 2018, was part of criminal conspiracy. He admitted to have looked after the collection of funds in Delhi. Investigation revealed that such fund collection exercise was a sham and was falsely projected to be received from PFI sympathisers, whereas statements of individuals, projected as contributors, revealed that these transactions were bogus. Hence, cash from suspicious sources was nothing but the proceeds of crime generated out of a criminal conspiracy. It is evident that Perwez Ahmad deliberately withheld disclosure of true facts and deliberately lied and tried to mislead the investigating officer during the recording of his statements under Section 50 of PMLA, 2002, said the ED in court earlier. ED earlier stated that the PMLA investigation against PFI in a matter registered in 2018 revealed that more than Rs. 120 Crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI & related entities over the years, and that a very large part of the same has been deposited in cash. (ANI)
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