ASIF HANIF THARA Vs. ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard with the aid of case diary.

(2.) As per prosecution case, an FIR bearing crime no.421/2023 dtd. 16/6/2023 was registered at P.S.- Morar, District- Gwalior (M.P.) against the applicant Asif Hanif Thara and co-accused persons namely Hanif Kadir, Putta Swamy, S. Murthy, Noor Ahmad, Shankar, Lokesh A, Irfan Pasha, Ali Mulla Sarif, Kiran Kumar, Amjad Khan and ors., as alleged who are proprietors of 9 Benami Firms, u/s 417, 420 and 120-B of the IPC at the instance of Assistant Enforcement Officer, Enforcement Directorate S.T.F. Branch, Government of India, New Delhi (hereinafter referred as ED). In the said FIR, it was alleged that during period 16/7/2014 to 16/6/2023 the applicant fraudulently obtained import authorization in the name of his Benami entities by cheating the Government authorities with an intent to acquire wrongful gain for himself by circumventing the existing guideline issued by Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance and obtained maximum share of country quota by misleading the authority and concealing the fact from them and causing wrongful loss to government exchequer. Ss. 417, 420 and 120 B of the IPC as mentioned in the aforesaid FIR are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred as PMLA) accordingly, the ECIR bearing no. ECIR/STF/15/2023 dtd. 02/11/2023 was recorded for investigation under the PMLA.

(3.) During PMLA investigation it was revealed that the applicant is involved in importing poppy seeds from China and Turkey by misrepresenting/ hiding the facts and circumventing the stipulated guidelines issued by competent authority in the name of aforesaid 9 Benami firms situated around the same place. He has been obtaining import authorisation from Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior in a fraudulent manner in a different proprietorship and firms set up in the name of his family members and employees/ co-accused persons but beneficiary owned and controlled by him in gross violation of the licensing provision for import of the poppy seeds as stipulated by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance and Government of India. It was also revealed that the applicant is the master mind behind the entire scheme of obtaining import licence of poppy seeds. He played an active role in getting up various proprietorship firms in the name of his family members and employees/ co-accused persons with malafide intention to receive maximum share in the import of poppy seeds which is capped at a specific quantity per country. He managed and controlled the operation of aforesaid 9 proprietorship firms including their bank accounts. The applicant fraudulently imported poppy seeds worth Rs.141.8 Crores which is nothing but proceeds of crime involved in the offence of money laundering. The applicant used to import the poppy seeds from distinct countries and sell it to the domestic buyers within the country. Therefore, it is clear that the applicant is directly indulged into the activities connected with the proceeds of crime in terms of Sec. 3 of the PMLA.