CBI Court reserves order in Lawyer Gautam Khaitan bail plea in case under Black Money Act

A Special CBI Court today reserved its order in the bail plea filed by lawyer Gautam Khaitan in a case connected with the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015..The order will be pronounced by Judge Arvind Kumar on February 19..The bail plea was strongly opposed by Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh..Calling Khaitan a “master launderer” and a “habitual offender”, Singh urged the Court to not grant him bail at this stage..“He is the one. He is a master structurer. Be it defence deals or any other deal. (He is running) a lot of shell companies in Singapore…”, Singh said while informing the court that certain bank officials were also under the radar..Singh also cited the risk of evidence being tampered with and witnesses being influenced as grounds on which Khaitan’s bail plea should be denied before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submits its prosecution complaint. He further said,.“Any relief at this stage would hamper our investigation, which is at an initial stage. We have to be given some more time to file the prosecution complaint…Amount of laundering that has happened is humongous. He is a habitual offender, launderer of money and has to be looked at in that fashion.”.Singh also revealed that Khaitan’s association with Deepak Talwar, who is currently under judicial custody for another offence, has also come to the surface..It was also revealed that during the investigation, the ED has come across three more accounts that were used for the purpose of money laundering. Many more are expected to be revealed after further investigation, Singh said..Appearing for Khaitan, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra argued that there was no longer any need for him to be in custody, and that he should hence be released on bail..Luthra argued that it was a “pure case of malice”..He also informed the court that Khaitan was illegally detained by ED from the night of January 24, while he was formally arrested only on the evening of January 25, without providing a copy of the Enforcement Case Investigation Report (ECIR)..Stating that the alleged offences pertain to transactions which took place before 2014, Luthra questioned the justification behind arresting Khaitan at this stage..He further argued that since the ED was already in possession of all the documents pertaining to the alleged offence, there was no need for further custody..Advocate PK Dubey also argued for bail on the ground that the investigation was based on anticipation and presumption..He also objected to Khaitan being confronted with AgustaWestland accused Rajeev Saxena..“Why was Khaitan confronted with him when he is not accused in the case?”, he said..He also argued that there was no burden of proof on Khaitan at this stage..Gautam Khaitan, who is also one of the accused in the AgustaWestland chopper case, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 26 under the Black Money Act pursuant to a fresh ECIR. He is accused of having several undisclosed foreign bank accounts and beneficial interest in several undisclosed foreign entities. As per the ED, the ‘proceeds of crime’ under investigation amount to nearly Rs. 800 crore..On January 26, a Magistrate had sent Khaitan to two days’ ED custody. On January 28, Khaitan was remanded to five days’ custody with ED by the CBI Court. His custody was further extended by six days on February 2..He was sent to judicial custody till February 20 on February 8.