New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) over the lack of progress in probing allegations of financial irregularities involving Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IHFL), now renamed as Sammaan Capital Ltd.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana expressed dissatisfaction that despite earlier directions, neither the CBI nor the EOW had apprised the top court about the status of the investigation or the steps taken towards registration of a regular case.
It questioned why the investigating agencies had failed to indicate whether any criminal offence was made out despite examining the matter for several months. “What has CBI done from January to July? We don’t want to hold an investigation against innocent people. Let them have the courage to say because money returned, no offence is made out,” the CJI Kant-led Bench observed during the hearing.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the CBI, submitted that the investigation was continuing and that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had also commenced its probe.
The ASG sought two weeks’ time to obtain instructions and file a comprehensive status report detailing the progress made by the investigating agencies.
Recording the assurance given by ASG Raju, the top court deferred further hearing.
In its order, the CJI Kant-led Bench said that it was inclined to summon the heads of these agencies over their failure to comply with its earlier directions, but deferred the move after the Centre’s law officer assured the top court that the latest developments would be placed on record.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted that the CBI’s affidavit filed in January had referred to findings of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which allegedly revealed siphoning of funds.
He added that the Delhi Police EOW had already registered certain FIRs and that the CBI was considering clubbing five cases flagged by the ED with the Yes Bank investigation. Bhushan further informed the apex court that a former Indiabulls promoter had shifted to London and reiterated the plea for constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a comprehensive probe.
On the other hand, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Nalin Kohli, appearing for the respondents, denied any wrongdoing.
The petition filed by Citizens Whistle Blower Forum (CWBF) seeks a court-monitored SIT probe into alleged financial irregularities, including round-tripping of funds, violations of the Companies Act and siphoning of money by the promoters of the erstwhile Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd, now Sammaan Capital Ltd, and its subsidiaries.
The plea alleges that several companies which received substantial loans from the housing finance company had negligible paid-up capital, common directors, overlapping addresses and no genuine business operations, and that the funds were ultimately routed back to entities linked to the promoters.
In November last year, the Supreme Court had also pulled up multiple investigating agencies, including the CBI, SEBI and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, for adopting a “friendly approach” in dealing with the allegations.
The apex court had then expressed concern over the slow pace of the investigation, asked SEBI to avoid “double standards”, questioned the CBI over its failure to register an FIR, and directed the agencies, including the ED and SFIO, to submit status reports after coordinating their investigations.
–IANS
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