Yes Bank's former CEO Rana Kapoor has been granted bail by a special court in Mumbai in money laundering charges for which he was arrested on March 8, 2020, by the Enforcement Directorate. However, Kapoor will continue to remain in jail as his bail plea in another CBI court is pending. The special PMLA court granted bail to Kapoor on Thursday, December 21, under Section 436 A of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court, however, came down heavily on the ED for prolonged incarceration without a trial.
Special judge MG Deshpande, who was hearing the plea, noted in the bail order that unduly incarcerated Rana Kapoor has undergone more than a half period of sentence (3 years and 6 months) prescribed for the offence under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and as such, is deemed to have been convicted without any trial for a minimum period of sentence. To date, it has been 3 years and 9 months and the trial has not begun with framing charges. His specific contention is that the delay in the beginning of the trial by framing charges has not been caused due to delay in proceeding on his part. Considering the present status of the case, there is no likelihood that in future within a particular time frame, the trial will begin and conclude.
“It is the contention of ED that Rana Kapoor one of the main accused persons, being M.D. cum C.E.O. of Yes Bank during the relevant period, had misused his position to gain undue financial benefit for him, his family members and associates by involving himself in bribery, corruption and money laundering activities. On 08.03.2020, he was arrested by the agency on reasonable belief that he was involved in an offence of money laundering. This court had remanded him in ED custody and after exhausting the maximum period therein, he was remanded in judicial custody on 20.03.2023. Ever since he has been in judicial custody. The ED has filed one main Prosecution Complaint and three Subsequent Prosecution Complaints before this Court and the Court has taken cognisance thereof,” reads the bail order.
The court slammed the ED’s lackadaisical approach and noted that the agency did not initiate proceedings even in a single case without the court’s intervention.
In his order, special judge MG Deshpande cited information available on the ED’s website, noting that the agency had registered 5,906 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) ever since PMLA came into force in 2005, and prosecution complaints or chargesheets had been filed in 1,142 cases but trials were concluded in only 25 cases so far. However, it was not clear how many of these 25 cases were tried jointly along with the predicate case as mandated under the PMLA, said the court.
“Whether the applicant (Kapoor) who has already undergone the period of detention which is more than the period prescribed for minimum punishment under Section 4 of the PML Act can be allowed to be incarcerated unduly for the remaining uncertain period? This is the serious question involved in this case. This court, therefore, felt that if such scenario continues, no trial of PMLA case will reach to the finality,” the bail order stated.
| Status of cases |
| Number of ECIR recorded | 5906 |
| Number of Prosecution Complaints filed | 1142 |
| Number of cases in which trial completed under PMLA | 25 |
| Number of trial cases resulted in conviction under PMLA | 24 |
| Number of accused convicted in PMLA | 45 |
| Number of trial cases resulted in acquittal | 1 |
| Percentage of conviction (15=12/11*100) | 96 |
The figures indicate that right from the beginning till 31.01.2023 in all 1142 Prosecution Complaints have been filed but to date only 25 cases could be disposed of within such a long span.
Only 25 cases could achieve the finality.
This itself indicates that despite huge efforts only 25 cases out of 1142 could be disposed of in India right from the beginning till 31.01.2023.
Only 25 cases are disposed of throughout India as appears from the ED’s own record. ED claims the rate of conviction is 99% as 24 of them turned into convictions.
