A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti had denied bail to Sisodia on October 30.
“In the analysis there are certain aspects which are doubtful.. regarding transfer of ₹338 crore transfer is established. We have rejected the bail,” the Court had said while denying bail.
If the trial proceeds sloppily in the coming 6 months then they can approach this court, the bench had added.
Sisodia has been in jail since February 26 this year. He is being probed by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The scam involves allegations that Delhi government officials had connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes. The accused officials are alleged to have tweaked the excise policy to benefit certain liquor sellers.
The Delhi High Court had earlier denied bail to Sisodia in the cases against him by the two central agencies, prompting the AAP leader to move the Supreme Court for relief.
During the course of the hearings, the bench had told the ED that a predicate offence has to pre-date the offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the ED cannot create a predicate offence.
The bench had sought to know from the CBI and ED whether there was any evidence of bribery that could implicate Manish Sisodia in the alleged scam.
It had remarked that merely because lobby groups or pressure groups had called for a certain policy shift, that would not by itself imply that corruption or a crime has taken place unless there is an element of bribery involved.
However, it eventually declined to grant bail leading to the present review petition.
Source: Barandbench
