NSEL scam: Jignesh Shah, if granted bail, faces ED grilling
The ED has booked Shah and many others under the Money Laundering Act for the scam.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday again reserved its order on the bail plea of Jignesh Shah, the jailed promoter of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).
Shah, chairperson of Financial Technologies (FTIL), was arrested on May 7 in connection with the Rs 5,600-scam at NSEL.
Shah had challenged the rejection of his bail plea last month by a Mumbai sessions court. The court had rejected his plea saying he might tamper with evidence if granted bail.
Shah is in judicial custody for almost 75 days now and is entitled to bail since the 60-day period for filing a charge-sheet is over, said his lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani.
Justice Abhay Thipsay reserved his order again till Thursday or even Friday.
If legal sources are to be believed, then there is a high possibility that Shah will get bail this time.
But even if that happens, Shah's troubles will not get over so easily since someone is desperately waiting for him to come out of Arthur Road jail. It's the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Senior ED officials told IndiaToday.in that, "once Jignesh Shah is out of the jail, he has to face ED investigation".
Last year, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and other directors, officials and promoters of NSEL, directors of defaulting companies and some trading members/brokers.
"NSEL and others (including Shah) committed schedule offence under 120 (B), 467 and 471 of PMLA Act," a senior ED official said.
The ED has registered a case against NSEL and its team under 467 (forgery of valuable security), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of PMLA Act.
The ED has been waiting for Shah to come out of the jail, so that "a formal questioning" could begin.
"We could have questioned him in jail too but we know he would not cooperate with us," the official said.
If sources are to be believed then soon, Shah is likely to face grilling from ED officials.
A formal summon would be sent to Shah for the date and timing to remain present before ED officials in Mumbai.
The ED is investigating not only NSEL but also Shah's other exchanges/companies that include FTIL, MCX, MCX-SX, IBMA and all international commodity exchanges located in Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore and Bahrain.
Earlier, in its status report submitted to the Finance Ministry, the ED indicated that NSEL might have violated money laundering laws and some foreign exchange procedures.
"In our initial preliminary inquiry, we detected violation and necessary regulation not complied with," an ED official said.
The ED made this report after collecting data from the Income Tax department and Forward Markets Commission that were doing initial inquiries against NSEL.