By IANS,
Allahabad: Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh’s troubles continue with the Allahabad High Court Friday asking the Enforcement Directorate to probe his financial affairs following charges of money-laundering and corporate fraud against him.
A bench of Justice Imtiaz Murtaza and Justice S.S. Tiwari turned down Amar Singh’s plea for quashing a criminal case lodged against him by Lucknow-based advocate Shiva Kant Tripathi in October 2009, alleging a Rs.500 crore fraud by the politician through amalgamation of shell companies.
The case was registered under the provisions of the Money Laundering Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act and other related provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The bench ordered a probe into the allegations by the Enforcement Directorate.
“The FIR accused Amar Singh of forming a never-ending chain through a web of companies with complex cross-holdings coupled with amalgamations which helped in erasing the trail. It was not only alleged as an attempt at converting black money into legitimate money but involved appropriating outlandish sums of money that could not have been legitimately earned by him through his known and admitted sources of income,” senior advocate Gopal Chaturvedi, who appeared for Tripathi, told IANS.
The allegations in the FIR pertained to 2003 when Amar Singh, then chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Development Council holding a cabinet minister rank and status, allegedly misused his position to award various government contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees to companies owned and controlled directly or indirectly by him besides making money underhand through kick-backs.
The FIR also accused Amar Singh of indulging in money laundering business by creating a web of shell companies. It was alleged that the major share holders of Pankaja Arts and Credit Private Limited and Sarvottam Caps Limited were Amar Singh’s wife, Pankaja Singh, and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, his close family friend.
As many as 41 companies floated by Amar Singh were merged with Pankaja Arts and Credit Private Limited and Sarvottam Caps Limited by orders of the Calcutta High Court dated Dec 31, 2003, and Jan 31, 2005. These were stated to be shell companies with little or no business.
According to counsel Samit Gopal, also appearing for Tripathi: “The amalgamation process was apparently a deception and by this process, the companies in which the petitioner had controlling shares were overnight enriched by more than Rs.400 crore.”
Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, who flew down to Allahabad to defend Amar Singh, came up with various explanations to get the FIR quashed, contending that the merger of companies could not be questioned as it was duly approved by the Calcutta High Court.
Jethmalani also tried to give the whole issue a political colour and alleged that the FIR was “politically motivated with the intent of tarnishing the image of the politician,” but failed to sway the judges.