MHC quashes bail order of CEPL director

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has quashed the bail petition granted in favourable to Ahmed A R Buhari, a promoter of the Coastal Energyen Private limited (CEPL), who was booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Madras High Court seeking to quash the condition bail granted to Ahmed Buhari, by the CBI special court under PML Act, Chennai, in 2022.

The bail order issued by the special court does not contain the reasons for satisfaction of the twin condition imposed under Section 45 of PML Act, observed Justice G Jayachandran while quashing the bail.

The records reveal that about 169 consignments of low quality coal with inflated price being encashed fraudulently by the accused through his company and the money has gone out of the country, wrote the judge.

The materials placed indicates at this juncture the accused cannot be presumed to be not guilty observed the judge and set aside the bail order given by the special court in favourable to the accused.

The special public prosecutor N Ramesh for ED contended that The trial court, passed a cryptic order without any reasoning or recording its satisfaction for granting bail inspite of the twin conditions imposed in Section 45 (2) of PML Act.

The counsel for ED further contended, while there is material to show that the accused is involved in money laundering and proceeds of crime of worth more than Rs. 550 Crores siphoned out of the country, ignoring the conditions mentioned in Section 45 of the PML Act, the petitioner cannot be released on bail.

Ahmed AR Buhari who was the successful bidder of tender folated by public sector to supply high quality coal. It was alleged that he inflated the price of the coal and supplied low quality coal, generated Rs 564.48 crore through CEPL and CNO group entities, and routed the same back to India via British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Mutiara Energy Holdings (Mauritius) to invest in Coastal Energyen, India.