Mumbai: A Mumbai sessions court Tuesday framed charges against former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in a 2022 money laundering case linked to activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and other members of the D-Company.
Malik is currently out on bail granted by the Supreme Court in 2024 on health reasons.
The charges were framed against the Nationalist Congress Party leader and two firms that are linked to his family—Malik Infrastructure and Solidus Investments.
Charges against Sardar Khan, the fourth accused in the case, will be framed separately as he is serving life imprisonment in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case. Malik and the two firms have pleaded not guilty in the case.
In the 2022 money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate alleged that there is prima facie evidence to indicate that Malik is “directly and knowingly involved in money laundering offence, therefore, he is responsible for committing the offence of money laundering as defined under section 3 of the PMLA, 2002 and is liable for punishment under section 4 of the PMLA, 2002”.
The charges framed on Tuesday are under Section 3, read with Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. Section 70 of the PMLA holds companies responsible for offences committed under the act, in this case Malik Infrastructure and Solidus Investments.
Special judge S. R. Navandar stated that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to frame charges against all accused, paving the way for the trial to proceed.
The ED’s case is based on an FIR registered by the National Investigation Agency against Dawood Ibrahim in February 2022 under IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The ED arrested Malik the same month in connection with this case.
Allegations against the NCP leader were first made by then Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis after which the ED started the probe and arrested Malik. The then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government alleged that the BJP was misusing central agencies against Opposition leaders.
In May 2022, the ED had alleged that a plot in the Goawala compound in Mumbai’s Bandra, belonging to two women Munira Plumber and Marium Goawala, was usurped by Hasina Parker, sister of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
“For usurping the above property, members of D-Company and accused Nawab Malik, connived together and executed several legal documents to put a facade of genuinity over the criminal act. To this end, Nawab Malik and Haseena Parkar entered into criminal conspiracy and Nawab Malik agreed to pay Rs.55 lakhs to Haseena Parkar, Rs.15 lakhs to Salim Patel and Rs.5 lakhs to Sardar Khan,” the ED alleged in 2022.
Senior advocate Taraq Sayed, who represented Malik, said in the court last week that the prosecution has avoided to file documents that may be favourable to the defence. “If all the seized documents are produced before the court, no case for framing of charge would survive,” he said.
The agency is yet to produce these documents in the court.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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