Kripashankar's dealings have 'attribute of money laundering': HC

Terming the maze of transactions by former Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh and his family members as "dubious", the Bombay High Court has held that the leader's dealings with his son had attributes of money laundering.

"Several transactions shown to have been done between Kripashankar and his son Narendra Kumar Singh are mere counter entries and demonstrate only an attempt to create cross entries, the common feature and attribute of money laundering," a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalvi observed while ordering prosecution of Singh and his family for criminal misconduct and corruption.

Raising questions as to why Singh would give several lakhs to his son and take several lakhs from him, the court said on Wednesday, "The report of the Income Tax speaks eloquently of dubious transactions by the respondent 11 (Narendra) remarking that there are huge unsecured loans from builders aside from advance of huge interest free loans and gifts taken from as well as given to friends and family members."

Noting that Narendra's assets were grossly disproportionate to his known source of income as a pilot with Jet Airways, the court said, "The known source of income is wholly inadequate to support his expenses or justify his investments."

Elaborating on the various loans and transactions undertaken by Narendra, the court said, "What could a pilot of Jet Airways have to do with so many individuals and private firms for extensive loans taken without any apparent reason? Can a pilot afford four properties worth Rs 9 crore? We wonder whether he paid even society charges of these properties from his salary income."

"He is shown to be a pilot having been trained in the US upon an expense of a few lakhs of rupees, which lends itself to rejection," the court said.