Supreme Court grants bail to Bhushan Steel’s former promoter Neeraj Singal Rs 46,000 crore in money laundering case

The Supreme Court on September 6 granted bail to Bhushan Steel’s former promoter Neeraj Singal in a money laundering case arising from an alleged bank fraud of Rs 46,000 crore. 

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar noted that Singal has been in jail for 16 months and the trial was not likely to be over soon. 

“The appellant will surrender his passport and not leave India without permission of court. In case there is any violation, it will be open to prosecution to seek recall of the order,” the bench said. 

The ED had alleged that Singal was involved in one of the biggest banking frauds coupled with the offence of money laundering which caused a loss of more than Rs 46,000 crore of public money. 

According to the ED, Bhushan Steel Limited's former Managing Director Neeraj Singal and his associates formed several shell companies and the promoters and entities linked to BSL "rotated funds from one company to another through a chain of multiple entities" as part of an alleged bank loan fraud.

The promoters, directors and the officials of BSL prepared "forged" documents and made fraudulent representations before the banks to discount LCs (Letters of Credit) and "diverted" the funds back into their own web of companies with "malafide" intentions causing wrongful loss to the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank.

The ED's money-laundering case stems from a chargesheet filed against the company and its promoters by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), an investigative arm of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The agency arrested Pankaj Tewari, the former vice-president (banking) of the company, former VP (accounts) Pankaj Agarwal, former chief financial officer Nittin Johri, Ajay Mittal, the brother-in-law of former promoter Neeraj Singal, and Ajay Mittal's wife and sister of Neeraj Singal, Archana Mittal, in January, claiming that they "knowingly received proceeds of crime to the extent of Rs 80 crore".

After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), Bhushan Steel was taken over by Tata Steel Ltd in 2018.