Special court allows ED 7-day custodial probe of Delhi PFI leaders
A Special Court of Delhi has allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for 7-day custodial interrogation of Perwez Ahmad (President, PFI Delhi), Md. Ilias (General Secretary PFI Delhi) and Abdul Muqeet (Office Secretary, PFI, Delhi) in relation to their involvement in the offence of money laundering in the guise of cash donations.
The three persons are required to be confronted with the statements and the tendered/recovered documents in this case. Forensic examination of mobile phones seized from their premises is also required to be done in their presence, ED stated.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday while seeking remand for three office bearers of the Delhi Unit of Popular Front of India (PFI) stated that Perwez Ahmad, President, Delhi PFI since 2018, was part of a criminal conspiracy. He admitted to having looked after the collection of funds in Delhi. Investigation revealed that such fund collection exercise was a sham and was falsely projected to be received from PFI sympathizers whereas statements of individuals, projected as contributors, revealed that these transactions were bogus. Hence, cash from suspicious sources was nothing but proceeds of crime generated out of criminal conspiracy.
The non-cooperative and evasive attitude of Perwez Ahmad along with his deliberate attempts to avoid joining the ongoing investigation in light of the fresh evidence viz. the statement of so-called donors and the evidence seized from various locations during searches, in this case, create further suspicion about his activities and involvement in money laundering activities, stated ED.It is evident that Perwez Ahmad deliberately withheld disclosure of true facts and deliberately lied and tried to mislead the investigating officer during the recording of his statements under Section 50 of PMLA, 2002.
ED while seeking remand of three accused stated that, they need to be investigated for their indulgence in the processes and activities connected with proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition and use. Their custodial examination under this Directorate's custody is imperative to unearth the role played by them & others in money laundering and unlawful activities, to investigate the source of suspected funds, to decipher the money trail and the modus operandi employed for layering, placements and integration etc.
Advocates Zoheb Hossain and Naveen Kumar Matta appeared for Enforcement Directorate before the special court on Friday. After noting down the submission made by ED's counsels the Additional Sessions Judge Shailender Malik renamed all three accused to 7 days remand.
ED further stated that the PMLA investigation against PFI in a matter registered in 2018 revealed that more than Rs 120 Crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI and related entities over the years and that a very large part of the same has been deposited in cash.
