Businessman case: Bombay HC stays ACB probe against ED officers – Times of India

MUMBAI: A vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Wednesday stayed all further investigation by the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau against the Enforcement Directorate’s officers in an FIR registered against SoBo businessman Jeetu Navlani.
The ED had approached the HC vacation court for urgent relief for a stay of the probe into a recent FIR registered against Navlani which alleged his links with certain officers of the agency. The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had on May 5 registered an FIR against Navlani for allegedly collecting Rs 58 crore from businessmen by promising them protection from any action by the ED.
The ED officers, however, have not been named as accused in the FIR.
Appearing for the agency, additional solicitors general Anil Singh and S V Raju sought a stay of the probe. The agency also sought a transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, seeking a “fair probe.” Senior counsel Aabad Ponda appearing for Navlani supported the ED plea.
Singh said Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act bars any inquiry or investigation against the Central government officers unless there is prior approval and since ED officers are Central government officers, in the absence of any such approval, further probe ought to be stayed.
The HC prima facie accepting the contention stayed all further probe and actions sought to be initiated in the FIR and directed that no coercive actions be taken against the officers of the ED performing their legal duties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED petition had said that the surrounding circumstances under which the ACB registered the FIR “smacks of malafide” and an apparent and desperate attempt by the state machinery to “thwart the various investigations initiated by the officers of the ED against the high and mighty in the state,” said the ED.
The ED had also said that if such “open-ended” investigation is allowed to go on, it “will demoralise the officers and affect their morale.”
The ED said as a premier agency which looks into several “heinous offences of money laundering,” it is essential that it be permitted to perform its duty “without any fear or interference.”
Special PP Pradeep Gharat for the state sought 15 days to file the state’s reply. The HC said the petition should be listed after three weeks.