Court acquits all the accused in 1st ever Mumbai PMLA case

Mumbai: In Mumbai's first-ever case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a special court here has acquitted all eight accused. The Enforcement Directorate registered the case in 2008, Asian News International reported.

In the case, the accused, including the then manager of OPM International and others, was discharged on the grounds of absence of a predicate offence. Special PMLA judge M G Deshpande was discharged on April 15, and the detailed verdict was made available on Wednesday.

The ED initiates a probe under the PMLA when there exists a prior First Information Report of a scheduled offence -- also called predicate offence -- against a person or entity.

ED booked OPM International, its director and others in a PMLA case based on a case registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2008.

The accused was discharged from the drug case.

The acquitted MD of OPM International, Omprakash Nogaja, had contented that he was neither involved in the NDPS case nor the in the generation of the proceeds of crime. His lawyer argued that a PMLA case could not be continued if the accused is discharged from the predicate offence, citing Supreme Court.

Special public prosecutor R R Yadav opposed the plea, saying the accused "was actively involved in the criminal activity relating to the scheduled offence by which POC of crime was generated".

But the court observed that the ED case against Nogaja can not continue in light of the SC judgement.

Along with Nogaja, OPM International, Shyam Modani, Shriniwas Modani, Umesh Bangur, Radhamohan Lakhotia, Shantilal Pangaria and Subh Laxmi Synted Limited were also discharged.

OPM International was an importer of goods such as timber, pulses and rice. In 2008, the NCB seized 200 kg of cocaine hidden in a consignment allegedly ordered by the firm from Ecuador.