No offence under PMLA against me in excise case: Manish Sisodia submits in court

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday submitted before a Delhi court that no offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is made out in the money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the Delhi liquor excise policy 2021-2022.

Delhi Rouse Avenue Court heard the submissions made by Sisodia where he contended that Section 45 (Offences to be cognizable and non bailable) of PMLA is applicable on him only if Section 3 (Offence of Money Laundering) is made out and none of the ingredients of Section 3 are prima facie made out against him.

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“When your lordship sees the allegations made against me through the lens of Section 3 then in all probability your lordship will see that no case under Section 3 is made out against me”, advocate Vivek Jain appearing for Sisodia submitted before the court.

It was submitted before the court that neither are there any allegations nor is there any material evidence to show that Sisodia acquired, concealed, or used the proceeds of crime.

Sisodia’s counsel submitted that, “I don’t see any allegations backed by evidence that I have acquired, used, concealed or projected the proceeds of crime... There is nothing which alleges that I have indulged in any activity related to the proceeds of crime.”

“There is absolutely no money, not a single penny that has come to my account or my family members’ account. They have raided my office, my house, they have even gone to my native place, but they have not found any money”, he further added.

It was also contended that the allegations made in the reply filed by ED are related to the formulation of policy and are not related to the PMLA or the proceeds of crime.

“These are all what CBI had argued and this all goes on to show the predicate offence”, he added.

Jain had also argued that the allegations are made on the ground of statements being made by officials under Section 50 and the controlling authority of the officials is the lieutenant governor (LG) who is also the original complainant in the case.

Thus, the veracity of these statements is to be tested during the trial.

It was further submitted that the policy had gone through various departments and was approved by them and was lastly approved by the L-G before its implementation.

He added that after the implementation of the policy, the revenue collected was the highest in the past ten years and there was no loss to the exchequer.

Jain also denied the allegations that Vijay Nair was Sisodia’s representative, and that the former Delhi deputy CM had directed for the grant of licence to the firm Indospirits stating that there is no evidence being produced to substantiate the allegations apart from statements being made by officials the veracity of which is to be tested at the stage of trial.

He also opposed the allegation regarding tampering of evidence stating that four phones are already in ED custody and moreover there is no evidence on record to show what was on the mobile phones which have been alleged to be destroyed.

Regarding the allegation of the missing cabinet file, he submitted that these are allegations which are only based upon statements of officials given after a year since the incident.

It was also submitted that Sisodia had not influenced any witnesses till now and there were no averments made regarding the same by ED in its reply.

Jain also pressed upon the health condition of Sisodia’s wife, who has been suffering from multiple sclerosis and needs proper treatment.

ED sought an adjournment before arguing on the bail application stating that some new facts have come to light and new crucial evidence has been unearthed which has to be brought on record.

The court adjourned the matter for further hearing on the bail application for April 12.

Meanwhile, the court extended the judicial custody of Sisodia, who was also produced before the Rouse Avenue Court as his custody in the money laundering case had come to an end.

The court has extended his judicial custody for a period of 12 days and he will now be produced before the court on April 17.

Sisodia was arrested by ED on March 9 after an eight-hour long interrogation.

He was sent to ED custody on March 10 for a period of seven days which was later extended by a period of five days on March 17.

Sisodia was sent to Tihar Jail on March 22.