Mumbai: A special PMLA court has rejected the bail plea of builder Vijay Machinder observing that he is prima-facie involved in cheating and forgery, and has generated proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 400.29 crore.
Observation Made By The Court
Special judge AC Daga refused to consider the finding of the special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors court, which said that “there cannot be a conclusion about forgery of society’s minutes, sale of flats to third parties need not be given much importance for decision and concluded that the accused has not committed forgery of the society minutes and sale of flats to the third parties”.
The PMLA court, however, noted that the record goes to show that it is the accused who is associated with Ornate Developers, Ornate Spaces Private Limited, and has secured development rights for a plot in Oshiwara. It is the accused who has promised 152 flats to UTI Employees Sai Samruddhi CHS.
“It is the accused who has availed huge loans and misused UTI Society letterhead for mortgage NOC, forged society resolution and misappropriated funds, diverted investments, layered loans, accumulating liabilities of approximately Rs400 crore as on 2020. All these have been done by the applicant/accused in violation of the agreements causing financial losses for flat buyers and financial institutions,” the court noted.
The court said that the finding of the MPID court is not binding on the special court and observed, “Considering the material placed by the prosecution before this court, it appears that applicant/accused is prima facie involved in the act of cheating of forgery, creation of forged documents and has generated proceeds of crime.”
Machinder had sought bail pleading that Ornate Space Private Limited is already in liquidation. Besides, properties to the tune of Rs 7.04 crore belonging to him and his family are already attached along with five cars valued at Rs1.86 crore. Machinder had refuted the claim of money laundering through the evergreening of loans taken from financial institutions.
“None of the financial institutions have alleged that the funds have been misused and in any case, the funds according to the investigation done by ED have been majorly used for clearing the earlier liability and therefore, it cannot be said that there is any money laundering as defined under the Act.”
