MUMBAI: Rejecting the bail plea of 53-year-old city builder Vijay Machinder of Ornate Spaces in a Rs 400 crore money laundering case, a special PMLA court said that only because the claim of stakeholders will be taken care of by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), it did not mean that his alleged sin was washed away.
“Considering the material placed by the prosecution before this court, it appears that the accused is prima facie involved in the act of cheating, forgery, creation of forged documents, and has generated proceeds of crime. From the material on record, it prima facie appears that it is the accused who distributed and layered the proceeds of crime,” Special Judge AC Daga said on Friday.
On Jan 3, 2024, Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Machinder in the money-laundering case based on a complaint lodged by an investor accusing the company of selling seven of 14 flats booked in Grove Tower in Oshiwara to others.
Machinder proposed Grove Tower on a plot as free sale in the market for developing buildings for UTI employees. He received a commencement certificate from Mhada and took Rs 450 crore from Punjab National Bank and other banks for the project. He also raised Rs 70 crore by offering allotment letters and selling around 70,000 sq ft area to 34 purchasers in the sale component. He was in a financial crisis and allegedly took help from the Dawood gang to get back allotment letters of 34 flats in Grove Tower.
Special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves submitted that the accused is the mastermind behind generating, layering, and diverting the proceeds of crime, amounting to approximately Rs 400 crore.
Seeking bail, Machinder’s lawyer submitted that in the proceeding before NCLT, IRP (Insolvency Resolution Process) has been appointed. “The IRP has appointed a new developer. As such, all the claims of the stakeholders raised before the NCLT will be addressed by the new developer, and the new developer will take care of it. Hence, the gravity of the offence goes away,” the lawyer argued.
The lawyer further submitted that there is no case of sale of one flat to two persons. “It is only because there is a change in flat number, therefore, it appears that some flats are sold to two persons,” the lawyer claimed.
However, the judge said that the record shows that it is the accused who secured development rights for a plot in Oshiwara and promised 152 flats to UTI Employees Sai Samruddhi CHS. “It is the accused who availed huge loans and misused UTI Society letterhead for mortgage NOC, forged society resolution, misappropriated funds, diverted investments, layered loans, accumulating liabilities of approximately Rs 400 crore as of 2020. All these were done by the accused in violation of the agreements, causing financial losses for flat buyers and financial institutions,” the judge said.
The judge also held that the grounds regarding delay in commencement of the trial at this juncture are of no help to the accused.
Source Homevior.in
