Supreme Court dismisses bail plea of AAP's Satyendar Jain in money laundering case

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in the money laundering case against him [Satyendar Kumar Jain v Directorate of Enforcement]..A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal ordered Jain to surrender before jail authorities immediately. Jain is currently out on medical bail. "All the appeals are dismissed. Mr. Satyendar Jain has to surrender forthwith," the Court ordered while reading out the operative portion of its verdict..Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May 2022, and remained in jail for a year before procuring interim bail on medical grounds.The Supreme Court first granted interim medical bail to Jain in May 2023. It was later extended by the Court and Jain is outside jail as of now..The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had initially registered a case against Jain under Sections 13(2) (criminal misconduct by public servant) read with 13(e) (disproportionate assets) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.The case was registered on the allegation that Jain had acquired movable properties in the name of various persons between 2015 and 2017 which he could not satisfactorily account for.Later, the ED also alleged that several companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries amounting to ₹4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through a hawala route.He was later arrested and a trial court had rejected his bail plea on November 17, 2022.The Delhi High Court denied bail to him in April 2023, while opining that Jain was an influential person and cannot be said to have satisfied the twin conditions for bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).This led to the appeal before the top court. .The top court in its judgment found that Jain did not meet the stringent twin test for bail in money-laundering cases."There remains no shadow of doubt that the appellant- Satyendar Kumar Jain had conceptualized idea of accommodation entries against cash and was responsible for the accommodation entries .... received through the Kolkata based entry operators in the bank accounts of the four companies," the Court noted.Though a company is a separate legal entity from its shareholders and directors, the lifting of such corporate veil is permissible when the former have been used to commit fraud, illegal activities or economic offences, the bench added."Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that the appellants have miserably failed to satisfy us that there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are not guilty of the alleged offences. On the contrary, there is sufficient material collected by the respondent-ED to show that they are prima facie guilty of the alleged offences," the Court said while dismissing the appeal..[Read Judgment]