Nawab Malik questions predicate offence registered against him under PMLA, seeks bail
India Today
A special court in Mumbai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, started hearing arguments made by senior advocate Amit Desai appearing for former Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik.
A special court in Mumbai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, started hearing arguments made by senior advocate Amit Desai appearing for former Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik. Malik has been charged with dealing with the underworld to illegally possess a large property in the Kurla area of Mumbai.
According to the chargesheet filed against Malik, the allegation is that the former minister had paid an underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim’s sister, Haseena Parkar, through her driver Salim Patel for the piece of land.
The allegation of money laundering initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is based on a predicate offence registered against Dawood and his henchmen. The ED has been relying on the statement of a woman named Munira Patel who originally owned the land that Malik is alleged to have taken over. According to the complaint, the woman used to get rent from those living on the property. Malik allegedly took over the property and started collecting the rent.
On Friday, Desai argued that there is debate and dispute about whether the owner was Munira or Salim Patel, as it was Patel who signed the sale deed with Malik as the buyer.
“What is not in dispute is that the prosecution is based on the statement of Munira given to the ED in 2022. Salim Patel, who claimed ownership of property pursuant to the doc of 1999, is dead. Therefore, we don't have any version on his part in the situation,” Desai said.
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“What the prosecution has sought to do is on the basis of the statement of Munira. They have put together a superstructure of what they want to call a predicate offence and based on her statement after 23 years,” argued Desai.