SC issues notice to ED on Abbas Ansari’s bail plea in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine a bail plea filed by Abbas Ansari, son of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, in connection with a money laundering case.

Issuing notice, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sandeep Mehta asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its reply to the special leave petition filed by Ansari, a sitting MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Mau.

Earlier, the Allahabad High Court, in its May 9 order, rejected his bail application but directed the court below to expedite the trial as swiftly as possible.

A bench of Justice Jaspreet Singh of Allahabad HC said, “This Court is unable to persuade itself to form a, prima facie, satisfaction in terms of Section 45 of the PMLA, at this stage, that the applicant is not guilty or that he may not commit an offence on bail.”

The court also took note of the money trail put forward by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case against Ansari. It said that the money trail links Ansari with the movement of funds to and from the two firms -- M/s Vikas Construction and M/s Aaghaaz. The ED has alleged that the firms were used by Ansari for money laundering.

The ED initiated a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of three distinct FIRs relating to predicate offences.

In the first criminal case, it was alleged that the partners of a construction company had encroached on public property by falsification of records.

The other FIR arises out of allegations that Mukhtar Ansari had taken funds from the MLA fund to build a school though no school was built and the land is being used for agricultural purposes. In the third FIR, it has been alleged that Ansaris by using their influence usurped government land and constructed an illegal house.