Regular bail granted to Ratul Puri in AgustaWestland money laundering case

A special court in Delhi on Monday granted regular bail to businessman Ratul Puri in alleged connection with the Agusta Westland money laundering case.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar directed Puri's counsel to fill two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each.

Talking about the case, Puri's counsel, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal said, "It was a case of arrest without complying with legal provisions. And my client has nothing to do with Augusta. He is an entrepreneur involved in power generation and has got nothing to do with defence deals. So, it was obvious that the Enforcement Directorate's case was not to withstand judicial scrutiny."

The court had, on November 29, reserved its order in the matter after hearing arguments from both the sides. Ratul Puri's mother, Neeta Puri was also present when the court pronouncement its order.

While Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, has been granted bail in Agusta Westland money Laundering case, he will remain in judicial custody at Tihar jail in connection with the Moser Baer bank loan case.

Puri's bail plea in the matter is also pending in a court.

Appearing for Ratul Puri, senior advocates Sidharth Luthra, Vikas Pahwa, and Advocate Vijay Aggarwal had argued that the documents Enforcement Directorate was relying on was public and that no purpose will be served by further keeping him in custody.

His counsel had also submitted that there is no evidence that his client had received money through two channels.

"I will be called an accused only if Agusta money comes into my account. The only allegation they have made is on Page 18 of the prosecution complaint. I am not the accused in the predicate offence. There is no direct evidence to show that I had received the money from two channels," the counsel had contended.

The economic offences watchdog, on the other hand, had opposed the bail plea stating that he may influence witnesses if he is granted bail.

ED had arrested Puri on September 4 in the case and he was currently in judicial custody.

The Enforcement Directorate recently filed a supplementary Prosecution Complaint against Ratul Puri and Jaspreet Ahuja in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

The ED, in its charge sheet, submitted that AgustaWestland gave 17 million Euros as kickbacks which reached Puri through two channels -- Interseller and the firms owned by Christian Michel, a middleman in the chopper deal.

( With inputs from ANI )