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Updated June 9th, 2022 at 18:44 IST

'He's a very slow writer. Takes 2 hrs for 1 page': ED says Satyendar Jain delaying probe

The ASG stated that the ED wanted to confront Satyendar Jain with his associate Vaibhav Jain, but he refused to join the inquiry citing illness.

Reported by: Gloria Methri
Satyendar Jain
Image: Republic | Image:self
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A  Delhi Court on Thursday extended by four days the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case in connection with the money-laundering probe. 

Appearing on behalf of the central agency, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju apprised the court about the recovery of crores of unaccounted cash and gold during multi-city raids that were conducted last week on sites linked to Satyendar Jain's aides.

"After the minister's remand, the ED conducted eight searches of the premises of Lala Sher Singh memorial trust where Satyender Jain was president. He has denied that he was part of the trust during interrogation, but incriminating material has been found from the trust in form of cash, documents etc. We need to confront Jain and his wife as both are members of the trust according to the documents," ASG Raju submitted in the court. 

He also mentioned that Rs 2.23 crore was recovered from Ram Prakash Jewellers; Rs 41.5 lakh and 133 Gold Coins weighing 1.8 kgs from Vaibhav Jain; and Rs 20 lakh from GS Matharoo - all of whom were either associates of Satyendar Jain or his business partners.

'Satyendar Jain party of various trusts': ED

According to sensational details accessed by Republic TV, the ED document said that "Substantial efforts have been made towards tracing the money train. Further, ED had conducted searches on 06.06.2022 under Section 17 PMLA at 8 locations connected with Satyendar Kumar Jain which led to the recovery of incriminating documents (including digital devices, email dumps etc.,), unaccounted cash of approx. Rs 2.85 crores along with 133 gold coins having a gross weight of 1799 gms and valued at Rs 92,56,161.

The federal agency also claimed that the AAP leader was a member of various trusts such as Jindal Charitable Society as vice president and Lala Sher Singh Memorial Jeevan Vigyan Trust Society (LSSMJVTS) as president. "Later on, his accomplice Vaibhav Jain was appointed in these trusts in his place," said ED.

The ED claimed that LSSMJVTS provided "accommodation entries to Vaibhav Jain in lieu of cash which is suspected to be belonging to Satyendar Jain". Vaibhav then filed a declaration under the Income Declaration Scheme to claim Delhi Minister's income as his own in order to shield Satyender Jain for projecting it as untainted.

Satyendar Jain attempting to delay probe: ED

The ASG stated that the Enforcement Directorate wanted to confront the Delhi Minister with Vaibhav Jain, but he refused to join the inquiry citing illness. "It becomes clear that Satyendar Jain is trying to delay the investigation," he said.

The Solicitor General also claimed that the AAP leader was taking too long to provide written statements, creating hurdles in the interrogation process. 

"He is a very slow writer... takes about 2 hours to write one page. The statements have to be recorded in his handwriting otherwise he says 'it is not my statement'. We have found voluminous incriminating material including email dump. Analysis of documents also required time. We need to interrogate the source of unaccounted cash from benamidars (GS Matharoo, Vaibhav Jain & Ram Prakash Jewellers)" the ASG told the court. 

On Tuesday, June 7, the ED made a stunning recovery during raids on multiple sites linked to Satyendar Jain's associates across the country. Sharing pictures on Twitter, the agency informed that bundles of hard cash amounting to Rs 2.85 crore, along with 133 gold coins and biscuits, weighing about 1.8 kg are among the recoveries from the alleged aides. 

The following day, Satyendar Jain's associates claimed that the cash, illegally routed through accommodation entries, belonged to the Delhi Health Minister himself. The disclosures were made by Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain to the Income Tax Department.

The ED arrested the senior AAP leader on May 30 and was remanded to ED custody until June 9. His custody has now been extended till June 13. 

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Published June 9th, 2022 at 11:55 IST

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