Satyendar Jain returns to Tihar jail as SC dismisses regular bail plea

New Delhi: In a setback to senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed his regular bail in a money laundering case, saying there is sufficient material collected by the Enforcement Directorate to show that he along with his two associates are prima facie guilty of the alleged offence.

A bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal asked Jain, who was out on interim bail, to surrender immediately.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's counsel had orally requested the court to allow Satyendar Jain to surrender in a week's time. The requested was rejected.

Following the court's direction, Satyendar Jain surrendered at the Tihar jail here on Monday evening. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Satyendar Jain on May 30, 2022, on the charge of laundering money through four companies allegedly linked to him. It had arrested Jain on the basis of a CBI FIR registered against him in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The bench said that "... there remains no shadow of doubt that the appellant -- Satyendar Kumar Jain -- had conceptualised the idea of accommodation entries against cash and was responsible for the accommodation entries totalling to Rs 4.81 crores (approx) received through Kolkata-based entry operators" in the bank accounts of the four companies by paying cash.

These companies are "M/s. Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd., M/s. Paryas Infosolution Pvt. Ltd., M/s. Indo Metalimpex Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Mangalayatan Projects Pvt. Ltd." and "the said companies were controlled and owned by him and his family", it said.

The bench said though it is true that a company is a separate legal entity from its shareholders and directors, the lifting of the corporate veil is permissible when such corporate structures have been used for committing frauds or economic offences, or have been used as a facade, or a sham for carrying out illegal activities.

It said it has also been found that appellants Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain -- both associates of the AAP leader -- had assisted him by making false declarations under the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS). Each of them had declared alleged undisclosed income of Rs 8.26 crores in order to protect Satyendar Jain, the court observed.

"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 bench said.

It added that statements of witnesses in the case had clearly stated that Satyendar Jain was the "conceptualiser, initiator, fund provider and supervisor for the entire operation to procure the accommodation, share capital/premium entries".

With regard to accused Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain, the top court said that both of them have also committed the offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by being actually involved in and knowingly assisting Satyendar Jain in projecting his proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore (approx) as untainted in the mode and manner stated in the prosecution complaint.

The top court said after discussing the material on record, the Delhi High Court in its April 6, 2023, order had prima facie found the appellants guilty of the alleged offences under the PMLA and the judgment does not suffer from any illegality or infirmity.

It said all the three accused were released on bail for a temporary period after their arrest and Satyendar Jain was released on bail on medical grounds, which has continued till this day.

"He shall now surrender forthwith before the Special Court. It is needless to say that the right to speedy trial and access to justice is a valuable right enshrined in the Constitution of India, and provisions of Section 436A of the CrPC would apply with full force to the cases of money laundering falling under Section 3 of the PMLA, subject to the Provisos and the Explanation contained therein,” it directed.

On January 17, the top court had reserved its verdict on Satyendar Jain and his associates' regular bail plea.

It had granted interim bail to him on May 26 last year on medical grounds and it was extended from time to time.

Satyendar Jain moved the apex court challenging the high court's April 6, 2023, order of dismissing his regular bail application in the case.

Jain, who has denied these allegations, was granted regular bail by a trial court on September 6, 2019, in the case registered by the CBI.