Mumbai: A special court has ordered the confiscation of bank accounts in Switzerland of promoter Sayed Masood of City Limousine India Ltd in a money laundering case concerning Ponzi scheme fraud in which tens of thousands of small investors suffered losses.
The court modified its own order of February 14 this year and ordered a confiscation. In the earlier order, though the court had made favourable observations regarding the confiscation of Swiss bank accounts by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), it had not ordered their confiscation in the end and had restricted its order to the extent of the bank accounts in Singapore.
Later, through a plea, the central agency approached the court seeking rectification of its order to include assets of Switzerland. Masood’s advocate had opposed such a rectification and said it is not permissible as per the procedure. Special Judge MG Deshpande said in the order of October 21, that a careful perusal of the February order clearly indicates that the court had granted all prayers of the ED, but in the final order, it directed the confiscation of only the Singapore assets. The court said considering the objective of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a technical objection cannot be entertained. It said further that even if it is assumed that such a rectification is not maintainable, there is no bar on making an additional plea seeking relief. It also pointed out that the…
