New Delhi [India], April 14 : Advocate Vikas Pahwa, lawyer for I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel, on Tuesday questioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for presenting him before the court in the night despite having a 24-hour period.
A Delhi court allowed the ED's application and granted 10 days' custody of Vinesh Chandel till April 23, after he was arrested for alleged money laundering and financial irregularities.
While the I-PAC is stuck in the political crossfire between the TMC and the BJP, Advocate Pahwa clarified that the firm does not have an ideology and helps several parties contest elections.
Pahwa said, "I think he was arrested somewhere around 7:45 in the evening, and the family was informed that he would be taken to the Patiala House Court. So we all reached there around 9.30, knowing that he would be produced there. Later on, we learned that he will be produced in the residence of the special judge of Patiala House. Then the hearing took place late at night till about 12 o'clock, and then the order was dictated, and the order was released somewhere around 4 or 5 am. First thing which I would like to point out is that when an accused is arrested at 7:45 in the evening, you have 24 hours to produce him in the court. I do not understand the exercise of utilising the night to produce him before the court."
"Second is that this person is the director of a company called I-PAC. IPAC is a company which helps the political party in conducting elections. This company does not have any ideology. They have given advice to the BJP, Congress and various other parties. It's part of their job. We all know that elections are happening in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. This company is advising political parties there. The involvement of this company came for the first time on January 8, when their offices were raided in West Bengal, and the case, which was being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate at that point in time, is a case with regard to the coal scam, which is from 2020, about six years back. Those cases have already been investigated. Chargesheets have been filed. Prosecution complaints have been filed by the ED. Still, the ED used that case to conduct a search. Although I-PAC had nothing to do with those cases. They called the directors for an investigation," he said.
He argued that the allegations of violations of the Income Tax Act and the Goods and Services Tax do not constitute a scheduled offence. He said that no cognisable offence has been made out.
The advocate said, "Two of the directors, one who was stationed in Tamil Nadu, the other who was stationed in West Bengal, both challenged those summons in the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court hearing is going on. It was going on even till yesterday, and now the case is listed for Friday. While the Delhi High Court is hearing the issuance of summons to the directors of the IPAC. These new cases have been registered. I presume that the new case where the allegation made by enforcement directorate is with regard to cheating and conspiracy, and falsification of accounts. When we see the allegations, which they have now shared with us, we have realised that no offence of cheating is made out in this case, and the allegations are very vague."
"Even if we accept the allegation, it's a violation under the Income Tax Act, which is not a scheduled offence. There's an allegation of GST not being paid, which is again a GST violation, which is not a scheduled offence. So it looks, prima facie, as a lawyer to me, that all these allegations which are now being made in the predicate offence FIR, now registered by EOW, and the Enforcement Directorate, the ECIR, which is registered by ED, no cognisable offence is made out," he added.
This comes after the ED arrested Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd (IPAC) Director Vinesh Chandel under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the alleged coal pilferage case, a press release said.
Vinesh Chandel is the founder, director and 33 per cent shareholder of IPAC, and was arrested on Monday, after ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Delhi Police.
After his arrest, Chandel was produced before the court and Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala House Courts, Shefali Barnala Tandon, who granted 10 days ED custody.
ED also alleged that documentary evidence recovered during raids at the I-PAC office was also found at the office of a political party, along with claims that sensitive emails were deleted from the accounts of I-PAC employees soon after the searches, as per the remand copy by ED.
The agency also flagged instances of "50 per cent cheque" payments, indicating partial transactions through banking channels.