Enforcement Directorate Moves Supreme Court Challenging Bail Granted To Kerala CPI(M) Leader's Son Bineesh Kodiyeri In PMLA Case

The ED has argued that the High Court failed to appreciate that Kodiyeri preferred five previous Bail Applications, which were rejected and there is no change of circumstances in the present case. Further, the previous orders of rejection by the Trial Court has not been challenged by him before any Court.

According to the ED, the twin conditions under section 45 (1) of the PMLA Act stands revived by Act 13 of 2018 through the 2018 amendment, after the Judgement rendered by Supreme Court in Nikesh Tara Chandra Shah versus UOI.

The ED has argued that even though the even though the Act of 13/2018 is challenged before Supreme Court, its pending for consideration and till the final verdict the act would be in force and the amended provision will be presumed to be valid until the same is struck down by any Constitutional Court.

While arguing that the special enactment prevails over the general principles of bail, the ED has submitted that the High Court erred in entertaining the application preferred by the Respondent u/s 439 of the CrPC, ignoring the specific provision of law, i.e., section 45 of PMLA Act.

According to the ED, the general principles of bail, i.e., bail is a rule and Jail is explanation cannot be made applicable in the case in hand.

The ED has submitted that there is sufficient material to contend that the accused committed the offence of money laundering and documents collected by the Investigating Officer clearly disclose that there are shady transactions under which huge amounts were deposited, transferred and withdrawn.

Background:

A single Judge bench of Justice M G Uma of the Karnataka High Court had in October pronounced the order saying, "The criminal petition is allowed subject to conditions."  Bineesh Kodiyeri was arrested a year ago, on October 29, 2020, and since then he has been under custody.

Mohammed Anoop - was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru, after he was found in possession of 60 grams of MDMA tablets (a psychotropic substance) in his residence. Later he was arrested by ED.

It is alleged that Mohammed Anoop was made a 'benamidar' for one of Bineesh's restaurants.He has also accepted that "Bineesh is his boss and he did whatever Binesh Kodiyeri told him to do for which Bineesh used to pay him."

It is also alleged that Investigation under PMLA further revealed that the application department is having sufficient material with reasons to believe that the said accused is guilty of the offence of money laundering under section 3 of the Act and punishable under section 4 of the Act.

Case Title: Directorate of Enforcement vs Bineesh Kodiyeri