Court rejects bail plea of PFI Delhi unit chief Parvez Ahmed

New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) A court here has rejected the bail plea of Parvez Ahmed – the chief of the Delhi unit of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) – who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged role in money laundering in the guise of cash donations. Ahmed contended in his plea that his continued incarceration was unwarranted and there was no likelihood of the trial being concluded shortly. Noting the evidence before it, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit said, “The accused could not overcome the threshold stipulation predicated in section 45 of PMLA. Hence, the present bail application is disposed of as dismissed”. The twin conditions under Section 45 state that when an accused in a money laundering case applies for bail, the court has to first give an opportunity to the public prosecutor to be heard and only when it is satisfied that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit a similar offence when released, can bail be granted. Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta and advocate Mohammed Faizan appeared for the ED. The counsel had opposed the bail plea underlining that the accused had been “evasive”, besides making “deliberate attempts to mislead the investigation and conceal his role in the offence of money laundering.”

Rejecting Ahmed’s argument for bail on the grounds that he was not aware of dealing with proceeds of crime, the court said, “Whether applicant (Ahmed) knew or did not know that he was dealing with proceeds of crime and whether the same was tainted money can be ascertained after the evidence has been led.” It also rejected the accused’s argument that he did not follow up on the collection of donations and was not directly involved in dealing with accounts, saying being the Delhi unit state president, his “bare denial” will not absolve him of the role played in PFI. In an order passed on March 18, the court also said that no recovery of cash from the accused was needed to hold him liable under PMLA. “The material on record does show that there is an inflow of money through various sources, some of which are stated to be suspicious. There are allegations of raising money from abroad, without accounting for it,” the court said.

The statements of various accused when juxtaposed with each other do raise contradictions in respect of the entire process of the source of money and eventually indicate that there is layering of money,” it added. The court has reserved its order on the bail of other arrested PFI functionaries, including the general secretary Mohammed Ilias and office secretary Abdul Muqeet. The agency arrested the three accused on September 22, 2022. The federal probe agency had alleged that the three accused along with other members of PFI collected funds through donations, hawala, banking channels, etc and used the funds for unlawful activities and commission of scheduled offences. According to ED’s remand paper, over the years, the transfer of funds was even being done from abroad through a clandestine or illegal channel under a conspiracy hatched by office bearers of PFI.