High Court Says To Maintain Status Quo Till Appellate Tribunal Hears Appeal In PMLA Case Against MLA Ratnakar Gutte

MUMBAI: Bombay high court bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar on Wednesday directed parties to maintain status quo in the money laundering case against Maharashtra Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Ratnakar Manikrao Gutte, till an appeal filed against an attachment order is taken up before the PMLA Appellate Tribunal. The appeal against an attachment order is a statutory right.

The HC also additionally restrained against taking further coercive steps in relation to Gutte’s properties in the interim.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Gutte in connection with an alleged Rs 635-crore bank fraud.

The Yogeshwary Hatcheries Pvt Ltd and Gangakhed Solar Power Pvt Ltd are among the assets worth Rs 225 crore associated that ED attached including Gangakhed Sugar & Energy Ltd of which Gutte is the chairperson.

Yogeshwari Hatcheries and Gangakhed Solar Power Pvt Ltd moved the HC to challenge the December 13 order passed by the adjudicating authority under the PMLA in the ED case against Gutte and also challenged the January 3, 2022 “possession notice’’ issued by the agency. 

The ED counsel H S Venegaonkar on Monday submitted that the agency has already taken possession but Gutte’s counsel vijay agrawal advocate disputed it.
ED has alleged that Gutte along with others misused an agricultural loan facility for farmers.

Under the loan scheme, banks financed sugar farmers (based on their land holdings) to buy inputs and necessary equipment for their crops such as seeds, fertilisers, manure, tractor, pumps and so on. Gutte and his associates created a data bank of farmers by collecting their KYC (know your customer) details while buying their crop. Gangakhed Sugar then tied up with banks to get agricultural loan for farmers.

As alleged, Gangakhed Sugar used these KYC details to forge agricultural loan proposals in the name of farmers. Banks sanctioned loans worth Rs 772 crore and disbursed Rs 635 crore on the basis of these alleged forged proposals between 2012-13 and 2016-17.

Agrawal argued that since the Appellate Tribunal established under the PMLA Act is not functional due to the “lack of quorum” the appeal to the adjudicating authority’s final order won’t get listed for hearing so the companies have no other way out other than knocking the doors of the high court. He said it is no fault of the Petitioner company that the Adjudicated Authority is not functional.

The Appellate Tribunal is not functional since April 4, 2021, when its acting chairman G.C. Mishra retired, the court was told. PMLA Appellate Tribunal has been without a chairman since retired Justice Manmohan Singh’s term ended in September 2019.

The ED counsel agreed that the tribunal is not functional and said orders of status quo are being passed by all the high courts throughout the Country.

News Source - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/maharashtra-maintain-status-quo-in-pmla-case-against-mla-ratnakar-gutte-till-appellate-tribunal-hears-his-appeal-says-hc/articleshow/88859907.cms