The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. Singh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in October last year under the Prevention for Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The PMLA, 2002 forms the core of the legal framework to combat money laundering in the country allowing confiscation of movable and immovable assets as proceeds of crime under the stringent law. The PMLA Rules came into force in 2005. One of the most stringent provisions of the PMLA is its bail provisions. According to Section 45 of the PMLA, the petitioner can be granted bail in a money laundering case only when “the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.”
In other words, a judge can grant bail only if he is satisfied that the accused is innocent.
It is in this backdrop that the circumstances of Sanjay Singh’s bail become important, especially when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and two other senior AAP leaders – Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain—have also been arrested in the alleged multi-crore scam under the same Act.
In the court, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta, and Prasanna B. Varale ordered that Sanjay Singh be released on bail after the ED submitted that they no longer required his custody. However, the ED decided not to oppose the bail only after the SC apprised the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju that they are planning to grant Sanjay Singh bail under Section 45 of PMLA.
“...where the Public Prosecutor opposes the (bail) application, the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail,” it was said during the argument. The court reportedly asked the ASG to keep in mind the implications on the trial in case bail is granted as per Section 45. The court also asked the ASG to “get instructions on whether you need further custody”. It was then that the ED decided not to oppose Singh’s application and the court granted bail without going into the merits of the case.
The development has come at a time when the AAP has been accusing the ED of arresting senior AAP leaders without any proof and money trail. Will Sanjay Singh’s bail give respite to Arvind Kejriwal and two other AAP leaders remains to be seen.
