During today’s hearing of the matter, the Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih also grilled the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on whether the trial against Balaji is likely to begin soon.
“What will happen to PMLA trial when predicate offence is not proved? Can you proceed for trial in PMLA case when trial of predicate offence has not started? How will you proceed with the trial? Either you make a statement that you are not relying on the other trial of the predicate offences. How can you proceed with this? Tell us the outer limit when these trials will be conducted,” Justice Oka said.
The judge noted that there were three predicate offences linked to the money laundering case against Balaji. The trial is yet to begin in this predicate offence case, which is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he observed.
“Here there are three predicate offences. Nothing has started. Tell us how many witnesses are there in each predicate offence is there? Can you even tell about when the trial can commence? We can’t imagine if the trial will commence or not. Total accused are over 500 combined in all three predicate cases. How many days will it be taken to even record their statements?” Justice Oka asked.
Representing the ED, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta and Advocate Zoheb Hossain replied that the predicate offence (CBI case) and ED trials can continue side by side.
Source: Barandbench
