The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). .Justice Jasmeet Singh granted bail to Chandra after finding that he falls within the ambit of "infirm" under the proviso to Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).“I am of the view that the petitioner falls within the ambit of “infirm‟ under the proviso to section 45(1) of PMLA and thus, he is not required to meet the twin test of section 45(1) of PMLA,” the Court stated.As per the proviso, the strict twin conditions for bail under PMLA will not apply if a person is sick or infirm.The Court observed that bail should be granted under PMLA in case of serious life-threatening sickness. “While there is no strict formula to determine the level of illness required for bail under this proviso, the general guideline is that when the sickness is serious enough to pose a threat to life and requires medical assistance and treatment which is specialized and unavailable in jail facilities, the accused should be granted bail under the proviso to section 45(1) of PMLA,” the Court observed. It further noted that there is no likelihood of trial getting concluded in the near future owing to voluminous evidence and number of parties and witnesses involved.“There are 17 accused persons, 66 companies, 121 witnesses and 77,812 pages of documents plus enormous digital data which needs to be analysed in the present case. Thus, there is no likelihood of the trial to be concluded in the near future,” the Court stated..The PMLA case was registered in 2018. Chandra, one of the Directors of Unitech Limited, is accused of being involved in diversion of funds to the tune of about ₹5,826 crore belonging to home buyers.Chandra, who is 86 years old, was arrested in October 2021 and has been on medical bail since August 2022. He was granted regular bail today..The Court considered the submissions made by Senior Advocate Rebecca John on behalf of Chandra who said that he suffers from cognitive impairment, pseudodementia and recurrent dizziness. He struggles with daily activities and has a history of falls, it was pointed out.“Given his diagnosed subjective cognitive decline, it is clear that he needs supervision throughout the day, which cannot be adequately provided by jail authorities. Furthermore, considering his age, the likelihood of improvement in his age-related infirmities is minimal and it is expected that his condition will continue to decline,” the Court stated. .ED Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain argued that the mandatory twin conditions under Section 45 of PMLA have not been fulfilled. He also argued that mere old age does not automatically render a person "infirm" to get the benefit of exception to the twin conditions under Section 45..The Court after considering the arguments proceeded to allow the bail plea. .Senior Advocate Rebecca M John with advocates Vishal Gosain, Anuroop Chakravarti and Pravir Singh represented Chandra. Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Standing Counsel Vivek Gurnani with advocates Kartik Sabharwal, Pranjal Tripathi, Kanishk Kochar, Ilma Khan, Suradhish Vats and Kunal Kochar represented the ED. [Read Judgment]
