Legally Speaking: Delhi Excise scam: HC bars co-accused from relying on observations in bail orders

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered that observations made by the trial court while granting bail to Gautam Malhotra and Rajesh Joshi in the money laundering case in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam can’t be relied upon by any other co-accused in any proceedings.
The order was issued today by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a petition in the High Court challenging the trial court’s decision.

The ED requested that the bail granted to Joshi and Malhotra be revoked and that the observations and findings not be used by any of the co-accused in any proceedings.
The Court also issued notices on ED’s bail cancellation request.

Special Judge MK Nagpal on 6 May, granted bail to Joshi and Malhotra, noting that the evidence against them cannot be considered incriminating enough to justify the attraction of bar and rigours of Section 45 of the PMLA on their continued detention and prevention of bail.
The Court also questioned ED’s claims about Joshi’s involvement in the transfer of kickbacks, noting that there was no independent evidence to that effect.

The court noted that one of the witnesses in the case has already recanted her statement regarding Joshi’s use of his media company to channel funds during the AAP’s Goa election campaign.
While hearing the evidence against Malhotra, Judge Nagpal noted that even the prosecution’s star witness, Dinesh Arora, was not supporting the ED’s case regarding the payment of a bribe of 2.5 crore to co-accused Amit Arora or repayment of the advance kickback amount.

The judge noted that while Malhotra may have formed the cartel in violation of excise policy provisions, it appears to be a pure business cartel to promote the sale of his liquor brands.