TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (4) TMI 993
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....inivasan (A1) and R.Manoharan (A2) entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat Global Trade Finance Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'GTFL'), a subsidiary of Global Trust Bank, pursuant to which, R.Manoharan (A2) in collusion with S.Arivarasu (A5), Manager of GTFL applied for a loan with fake documents. Arivarasu (A5) sanctioned a loan of Rs. 15 crores on 16.05.2008 which was siphoned off by Srinivasan (A1). Out of the said Rs. 15 crores, Srinivasan (A1) used Rs. 1.07 crores to purchase 166 acres of land in Pudukottai village in the names of P.Venkatachalapathy (A4), P.Rajendran (A6) and K.Vignesh (A7) from K.Gunasekaran, R.Sivakumar, Chinnakannu and G.Selvarani through various documents. The details of the sale deed under which the lands were purchased with the money provided by Srinivasan (A1) to the buyers viz., Venkatachalapathy (A4), Rajendran (A6) and Vignesh (A7) have been set out in paragraph 6.3 of the impugned complaint. The said Venkatachalapathy (A4), Rajendran (A6) and Vignesh (A7), gave a power of attorney in September 2009 to one R.Ayyappan in respect of the lands that were purchased by them with the funds provided by Srinivasan (A1). Gunaseelan (A8), who ....
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.... Sl. No. Details of Landed Properties Doc.No. Sale Value (in Rs.) Details of Purchasers 1. 5 Acres 76 Cents at Pudukottai Village, Ottanchatthiram Taluk 379/2010 3,64,000/- S.Palanichamy, S/o.Sellappa Gounder, Pottikkampatti, Chikkanaayakkanpatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. 2. 5 Acres 15 3/4 Cents at Pudukottai Village, Ottanchatthiram Taluk 380/2010 3,27,000/- C.Chellamuthu, S/o.K.Chellamuthu, Paaraivalasu, Chikkanaayakkanpatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. 3. 42 Acres 25 Cents at Dasaripatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Taluk 381/2010 8,64,000/- K.Kalimuthu, S/o.Kandasamy Gounder, Paaraivalasu, Chikkanaayakkanpatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. 4. 112 Acres 53 Cents at Pudukottai Village, Ottanchatthiram Taluk 382/2010 75,15,000/- V.Kuppusamy, S/o.Veluchamy, Sengaatuppudur, Ambalikkai Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. R.Natarajan, S/o.Ramasamy, Paaraivalasu, Chikkanaayakkanpatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. V.Nattuthurai, S/o.N.Veluchamy, Vadipatti, Kaspa, Vadipatti Village, Ottanchatthiram Tk, Dindigul Dist. 2.4 While this being so, GTFL ....
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....lands that were purchased by A9 to A15 from Gunaseelan (A8). 5. A9 to A15 contested the provisional attachment before the Adjudicating Authority. However, the Adjudicating Authority by order dated 07.09.2012 in O.C. No.114 of 2012 confirmed the order of provisional attachment under Section 8(3) of PMLA. A9 to A15, challenging the order of the Adjudicating Authority, approached the Appellate Tribunal under Section 26 of PMLA, which was dismissed on 05.09.2014. 6. Aggrieved by the order of the Appellate Tribunal, A9 to A15 approached the Madurai Bench of this Court in CMA (MD) Nos.104 to 110 of 2015, in which a learned single Judge of this Court, by order dated 14.10.2015, held that A9 to A15 were innocent purchasers and set aside the provisional order of attachment. 7. Now, the short question is, whether the criminal prosecution in C.C. No.62 of 2016 that has been launched by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 3 r/w 4 of PMLA against A8 to A15 is sustainable or not. 8. It is the specific case of the Enforcement Directorate that A8 to A15 came into the picture only after the 166 acres of land were purchased by Venkatachalapathy (A4), Rajendran (A6) and Vignesh (A7)....
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....rachand Shah Vs. Union of India and Another [(2018) 11 SCC 1], the Supreme Court has held as under : "11. Having heard the learned counsel for both sides, it is important to first understand what constitutes the offence of money laundering. Under Section 3 of the Act, the kind of persons responsible for money laundering is extremely wide. Words such as "whosoever", "directly or indirectly" and "attempts to indulge" would show that all persons who are even remotely involved in this offence are sought to be roped in. An important ingredient of the offence is that these persons must be knowingly or actually involved in any process or activity connected with proceeds of crime and "proceeds of crime" is defined under the Act, by Section 2(1)(u) thereof, to mean any property derived or obtained directly or indirectly, by any person as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence (which is referred to in our judgment as the predicate offence). Thus, whosoever is involved as aforesaid, in a process or activity connected with "proceeds of crime" as defined, which would include concealing, possessing, acquiring or using such property, would be guilty of the offence,....