SC affirms bail granted to Unitech promoter's wife in money laundering case

New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the bail granted to Preeti Chandra, wife of Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra, by the Delhi High Court in connection with a money laundering case.

A bench, headed by CJI D. Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, refused to interfere with the order of the Delhi High Court granting her bail as it disposed of the plea filed by the ED. 

It noted that Preeti Chandra has undergone over 620 days of custody and considerations relevant to the adjudication of an application for cancellation of bail are distinct from those which weigh in the grant of bail.

In addition to the terms and conditions which have been imposed by the High Court, the top directed that Chandra will not leave the limits of the NCR region. It added that she will report once every two weeks to the Investigating Officer and will not dispose of any property without specific permission of the special court.

"She has already applied for relinquishing her Dominican Republic citizenship," the court was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Chandra.

The Supreme Court had directed her to unconditionally undertake to relinquish her Dominican citizenship and to apply for Indian citizenship. On June 16, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court had stayed the direction of the Delhi High Court granting bail to Preeti Chandra.

The bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh, however, had said that the high court order will not take effect till June 16, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought time to challenge the order. The money laundering investigation was initiated by the ED in 2021 on the basis of various FIRs filed by the Delhi Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Unitech Group and its promoters on home buyers' complaints.

The probe agency had arrested founder of Unitech Group Ramesh Chandra, Preeti Chandra, and Rajesh Malik of Carnousite Group in 2021. It has been alleged that the Unitech Ltd, where the accused Ramesh Chandra is the Chairman, the co-accused Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra are the Directors, collected funds from home buyers, for housing projects.

However, according to the ED, the fund was not used for the purpose for which it was collected. The accused persons diverted this amount into several other accounts, the agency alleged, adding that the accused persons transferred over Rs 2,000 crore to Cyprus and the Cayman Islands.

According to the ED, accused Preeti Chandra received proceeds of crime Rs 107.40 crores in her company Prakausli Investments Pvt Ltd.