“Contemplating the contentions raised by the senior counsel showing for the petitioner, particularly the truth that the summoning order has been handed with out giving any causes for a similar, this court docket is of the opinion that prima facie, the matter requires consideration,” Justice Saurabh Banerjee stated.
The excessive court docket stayed the operation of July 1, 2023 order handed by an extra chief metropolitan Justice of the Peace right here and all proceedings emanating therefrom pending earlier than the ACMM qua (with respect to) the petitioner until February 21, 2024, the subsequent date of listening to.
The DRI had filed a prosecution criticism final yr on prices of allegedly “carrying, trying to export and illicit export of prohibited objects, that’s, international foreign money” towards P Okay Munjal, a 3rd social gathering service supplier firm referred to as SEMPL and people recognized as Amit Bali, Hemant Dahiya, Okay R Raman and a few others.
The interim order was handed by the excessive court docket on November 3 on a petition by Munjal searching for to quash the criticism pending earlier than ACMM and the July order handed by the trial court docket.
The excessive court docket issued discover to DRI on the primary petition and granted three weeks to file a reply. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the petitioner, sought to remain the trial court docket’s summoning order handed within the criticism alleging that the offences have been dedicated underneath the Customs Act, saying that it has been handed in a mechanical method with out observing any causes. The counsel stated the trial court docket handed the order with out appreciating the details that the DRI hid the March 28, 2022 judgment handed by CESTAT whereby the petitioner was exonerated on the identical set of details which kind a part of the current criticism that may be a verbatim copy of the show-cause discover of July 2019.
The excessive court docket stated perusal of the information reveal that the October 6, 2022 criticism is similar to the July 17, 2019 show-cause discover and the paperwork relied on are considerably similar.
“Additionally it is not disputed that the order dated March 28, 2022 handed by the CESTAT in … was not disclosed earlier than the ACMM- 01, Patiala Home Courts, New Delhi…,” it stated.
Relating to the non-disclosure of the March final yr order, the DRI counsel submitted that because it was not a celebration to the proceedings earlier than the CESTAT, there was no event for both being conscious or withholding any info qua that order.
The Enforcement Directorate had additionally registered a case underneath numerous sections of the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA). The case primarily stems from the cost sheet of the DRI, an investigation arm of the Central Board of Oblique Taxes and Customs (CBIC), filed earlier than a Delhi Courtroom underneath part 135 of the Customs Act (evasion of responsibility or prohibitions).
The ED stated Salt Expertise and Administration Pvt Ltd (SEMPL) allegedly “illegally exported international foreign money equal to about Rs 54 crore to numerous international locations throughout the interval 2014-2015 to 2018-2019 which was finally used for private bills of P Okay Munjal”.
SEMPL, it alleged, received issued international trade to the tune of about Rs 14 crore within the identify of its officers/ workers akin to Hemant Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj and Ketan Kakkar over and above the annual permissible restrict of USD 2,50,000 in numerous monetary years.
SEMPL has additionally drawn international trade/ journey foreign exchange playing cards in big quantities within the identify of different workers who did not even journey overseas, it claimed.
