New Delhi- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday told the Supreme Court that wife of jailed Unitech ex-promoter Sanjay Chandra was actively involved in huge money laundering, ran operations from the UAE, and has various assets in Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Singapore etc,
Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, representing the ED, submitted before a bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah that “this is a person who acquired a Dominican Republic passport, a country with which we do not have an extradition treaty. We have burnt our fingers in the past”.
The ED’s response came on a plea filed by Preeti Chandra seeking interim bail to take part in the last rites of her maternal grandmother.
Opposing the plea, Divan said she attempted to flee the country in March last year, and has offspring in the US, holding a US passport, along with substantial assets abroad.
“She has been an active actor in the entire matter. She was running operations from the UAE… huge money laundering operation. Have various assets in Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Singapore,” submitted Divan, citing she was a flight risk.
She further added that Preeti Chandra was involved in running operations through Trikar Group and actively participated in huge transactions from the Unitech Group to other entities. She said Preeti was “actively involved” with the jail officials, who handed over messages to her husband and his brother.
“I will just caution, there is an apprehension of the department… has the accused have gone to the neighbouring country by road and then taken off to another country,” said Divan.
She insisted that senior police officials should accompany her, if the court were to allow her to participate in the last rites.
Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, representing Preeti Chandra, submitted that the Dominican Republic citizenship was acquired in April 2016, and the case against Chandras was registered in 2018.
As the bench asked: “Why do you need Dominican Republic citizenship.. you have children in the US, holding a US passport. You operated from the UAE”, Dave, citing humanitarian grounds, said there is a tragedy in the family, and his client will not go to Haridwar, and insisted on her presence in the ceremonies held to grieve a family member’s death.
After hearing arguments, the top court allowed Preeti Chandra to come out of jail between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a day to attend the last rites ceremony of her grandmother.
The bench directed police officers to escort her to the place she wants to visit, and directed that she will not be allowed to use any mobile phone or access any documents.
The top court also asked her to submit her Dominican Republic passport or any other passport to the investigating officer, before she steps out of prison.
The ED had recently filed a fresh charge sheet before a court here in its money laundering probe against realty group Unitech, its promoter brothers Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra and others.
Sanjay, Ajay, Ramesh Chandra (their father and founder of the Unitech group), Preeti Chandra, Rajesh Malik (promoter of accused company Carnoustie group) and 66 domestic and overseas companies have been arraigned as accused in the charge sheet.
–IANS