Mumbai: A special court here has taken cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet against four new accused in the alleged COVID treatment centres scam, noting that they were involved in "generating, layering and parking of the proceeds of crime". Businessman Sujit Patkar, an aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, is a prime accused in the case and is currently in judicial custody.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the case, recently filed a supplementary chargesheet against four persons - Sunil Kadam, Sonu Bajaj, Sanjay Parab and Ravikant Singh. Special court judge A C Daga took cognisance of the chargesheet on Monday and issued summons to all the accused.
The court asked them to appear before it on December 31. The court said that upon perusal of the supplementary complaint, it appears that accused Kadam appears to be involved in the generation and layering of the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 32.44 crore in collaboration with the partners of M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services.
He was instrumental in securing the tender fraudulently by submitting false and incomplete documents by M/s Lifeline Hospital Management Services, by using his influence, though he is not a partner of the said firm as per the documents, the order said.
It said that Kadam has received total proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 1.81 crore into his personal account, which has been utilised for the purchase of property in the name of close associate Sonu Bajaj.
Bajaj has assisted accused Kadam in parking the ill-gotten money by purchasing a property in her name by using the proceeds of crime, the court said, citing the ED's chargesheet. It added that two other new accused in the case also played a key role in layering the proceeds of the crime.
Considering the role played by each of the accused, "it appears that they were involved in generating, layering and parking of the proceeds of crime", the court said. "All accused persons appear to have been involved in this process of money laundering and ultimately tried to make tainted money untainted. Hence, there is sufficient ground to issue a trial against them under the provisions of PMLA," it added.
Following the fresh chargesheet, there are now 11 accused, including Patkar, in the case. The ED has stated that Patkar "due to his proximity with a politically exposed person" managed to get a contract for his partnership firm Lifeline Hospital Management for supplying medical staff at Dahisar and Worli Jumbo COVID facilities during the pandemic.
The probe agency has alleged that obtaining the tender based on incomplete and wrong records and receiving payments from the civic body fraudulently resulted in the generation of proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 32.44 crore to Lifeline Hospital Management Services.
