HC declines stay in Satyam case

11 Jun 2009,


HYDERABAD: Justice G Bhavani Prasad of the A P High Court on Wednesday declined to stay the process of questioning Raju brothers and their CFO Vadlamani Srinivas by the enforcement directorate (ED).

The judge reserved his order to June 12. The three accused in Satyam scam approached the court questioning the lower court's order which permitted the ED to question them and record their statements.

Appearing for Raju brothers, senior counsel S R Ashok told the court that the ED had filed its application for questioning the accused under 167 of CrPC in the lower court despite the fact that a magistrate court has no role to play in matters related to a special enactment like money laundering Act. More over, the counsel said, in the absence of any prima facie evidence, the ED cannot proceed further under this Act.

Defending the ED, assistant solicitor general A Rajasekhara Reddy argued that what the central agency is seeking to do is only recording the statements of the accused. If a prima facie case is not made out of these statements, we will drop the matter there, he said. But questioning the accused is a must, he said. Just because the accused are in jail, we sought the permission of the court to question them, he said.
Had they been available outside, we would have straght away summoned them and questioned them, he said. Because, the central counsel said, the ED has got judicial powers to do so and the accused are bound to appear before us, he said. Hence the provisions of CrPC need not come in the way of ED which is proceeding the money laundering Act, he said.