NEW DELHI, Oct 2:
A Delhi court has issued a production warrant against a close aide of corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in a money-laundering case related to negotiations allegedly favouring foreign private airlines and causing loss to state-owned Air India.
Special Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj has directed the Tihar jail authorities to produce Yasmin Kapoor, a close aide of Talwar, before the court on October 3.
Kapoor is currently in judicial custody in another case lodged by the CBI.
The court, which had last month cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to Kapoor earlier in the money-laundering case, passed the order on an application moved by ED’s special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana.
Rana submitted that Kapoor was misusing the bail granted by the court.
Kapoor was granted anticipatory bail by the court on March 22, while Talwar is in judicial custody.
There were reasons to believe that the tainted money, received from the foreign airlines, was used for the acquisition of Kapoor’s residential property in New Delhi, ED’s lawyer A R Aditya said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed that several companies, in which Kapoor was a shareholder along with Talwar, received the proceeds of the crime, adding that the agency’s probe in this regard was ongoing.
Kapoor had sought anticipatory bail, claiming that the ED had threatened her to take names and also to convince Talwar to give names of government officials or political functionaries, failing which she would be arrested.
Talwar was deported from the UAE in connection with the money-laundering case.
The ED had earlier said it needed to interrogate Talwar to get the names of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd and Air India officials, who had favoured the foreign airlines, including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia.The agency had claimed that entities directly or indirectly controlled by the accused received exorbitant amounts from Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia and submitted a chart of a total of USD 60.54 million allegedly received by firms directly or indirectly owned by Talwar between April 23, 2008 and February 6, 2009. Talwar’s alleged role in some aviation deals during the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime at the Centre is under the scanner as well.
Talwar has been booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in criminal cases of corruption, while the Income-Tax department has charged him with tax evasion. (PTI)
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