New Delhi:
A Delhi court on Monday, 21 July, convicted former National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) Chairman-cum-Managing Director Abhay Kumar Srivastava, his wife Chandni Srivastava, and two others for money laundering in a high-profile corruption case. The court found that the accused had engaged in laundering proceeds of crime received as bribes in connection with a coal tender.
Special Judge (PC Act) Shailendra Malik, presiding at the Rouse Avenue Courts, held that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had successfully established the offence of money laundering under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
“In view of the aforesaid reasons, this court holds all the four accused, A-1 Abhay Kumar Srivastava, A-2 Bhushan Lal Bajaj, A-3 Smt. Chandni Srivastava and A-4 Smt. Anita Bajaj, guilty for the offence under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the PMLA. They all are convicted for the said offence,” the Court stated in its judgment.
The ED’s case stemmed from an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February 2011 against Abhay Srivastava, his wife, and co-accused Bhushan Lal Bajaj and his wife Anita Bajaj. The investigation revealed that Srivastava had received bribes through Bajaj, who acted as a conduit on behalf of Bhatia Group of Companies. The illicit payments were linked to a tender floated by NALCO for the procurement of two lakh tonnes of washed coal for its Captive Power Plant Unit in Angul, Odisha.
As the investigation progressed, the ED found that both Srivastava and Bajaj later involved their spouses in the transactions to obscure the financial trail and launder the proceeds of crime. The court concluded that the bribes paid played a direct role in awarding the NALCO contract to Bhatia International, thereby constituting a clear case of corruption and money laundering.
The ED was represented by its Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Special Public Prosecutor N.K. Matta, and a legal team comprising advocates Anand Kirti, Faizan Khan, Vivek Gurnani, Pranjal Tripathi, Ilma Khan, Kartik Sabharwal, and Bhawna Gandhi.
On the defence side, Abhay and Chandni Srivastava were represented by advocates Mayank Tripathi, Vaibhav Sharma, Vijay Shukla, Chiranjeev Mahto, Ambika Singh, and Nishant Kuma. Senior Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir and advocates S.P. Yadav and Md Imran Ahmad appeared for Bhushan Lal Bajaj and Anita Bajaj.
The sentencing phase of the case is expected to follow in the coming days, with further arguments on the quantum of punishment.
