Money laundering: Court discharges industrialist in a coal block allocation case

New Delhi: A local court last week discharged industrialist Manoj Kumar Jayaswal in a third case of money laundering related to the coal block allocation scandal.

The court, however, formally framed charges against co-accused JLD Yavatmal Energy, Arbind Jayaswal, Anand Jayaswal and Ramesh Jayaswal in the case involving about Rs3 crore. It said "prima facie", a case was "clearly made out" against them.

Manoj Jayaswal was represented by advocate Vijay Aggarwal in the case.

The counsel for the Enforcement Directorate argued that Manoj Jayaswal was a co-beneficiary of the proceeds of crime obtained by the company, JLD Yavatmal Energy.

The case was taken up by the ED in 2013 on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the previous year. According to the ED, JLD Yavatmal Energy had received proceeds of crime by selling fresh shares on the basis of a coal block it was allotted. The allocation was later cancelled.

Manoj Jayaswal was part of the company's board which decided to apply for the coal block and made an application with incorrect facts and deceived the Ministry of Coal into allocating a coal block in its favour, the ED had alleged.

Advocate Aggarwal argued that the ED's case was conjectural. When the letter of allocation itself was not proceeds of crime, Aggarwal contended, there remained no basis for continuing the prosecution under the PMLA. He argued that the proceeds from the share sale did not constitute proceeds of crime, since those were sold at the face value of ₹10 each and no illegal gain was accrued to their purchasers as they got the shares of an equivalent value.

The defence counsel also argued that the control of the company had been transferred by Manoj Jayaswal to his brothers after a partition in the family.

Manoj Jayaswal had executed a settlement agreement with members of his family in 2008 itself, whereas the money came into the company by way of the share issue only in 2009, which showed that he was not in control of the company at that time, he said.