New Delhi, India

Notable Indian businessmen fugitives embroiled in financial scandals in India, like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, managed to escape the country due to the failure of investigative agencies to arrest them in time, a special court in Mumbai observed on May 29 while hearing a plea of an accused booked under PMLA.

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Special Judge MG Deshpande made these remarks as Vyomesh Shah, an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sought a modification of his bail conditions. The court on May 29 granted Shah's request to remove a restriction on his travel abroad from his bail conditions. 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed Shah's application while arguing that allowing it could lead to situations similar to those involving Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Mehul Choksi.

The ED cited concerns about the lack of necessity for the application and potential tampering with evidence as well as the risk of Shah fleeing the jurisdiction.

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Judge Deshpande, however, rejected these arguments and stated, "I thoughtfully examined this argument and felt it necessary to note that all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at the proper time."

'Court cannot do what ED failed to do'

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Shah's situation, the court ruled, cannot be likened to those of the other fugitives.

He further elaborated, "It is simply because it is the ED who basically allows such person to be scot-free without any apprehensions of his travelling abroad, tampering and hampering evidence, flight risk, apprehension of dealing with POC, and assisting the said process etc. But for the first time when such person appears before the Court all such contentions and objections astonishingly crop up before the Court. So, this Court has repeatedly taken a firm stand that the Court cannot do what the ED basically failed to do."

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The judge highlighted that Shah had complied with court summons by far. He also pointed out that he secured bail and had previously applied multiple times for permission to travel abroad.

Nirav Modi came into the international spotlight due to his involvement in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud. The scam, estimated to be worth over $2 billion, involved fraudulent transactions facilitated by dishonest PNB employees who issued fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to Modi's companies. 

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Choksi is the uncle of Nirav Modi, another key figure in the same scandal. 

Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines airlines accrued massive debts and Mallya was accused of defaulting on loans totalling around ₹9,000 crore (approximately $1.3 billion) owed to various Indian banks. 

(With inputs from agencies)