Chennai: The Madras high court has stayed the operation of an interim order of the Appellate Tribunal, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which permitted M/s Pothys Private Limited, a leading textile show room in the city and represented by Ramesh Pothys, to use the passage in a huge property measuring 78,000 sq.ft in Kancheepuram district.
A division bench comprising Justices R. Mahadevan and M. Govindaraj granted the interim stay on the first appeals filed by N.Ananthie, Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement. Originally, on appeals filed by Pothys Private limited, represented by Ramesh Pothy and his four brothers, the Appellate Tribunal permitted them to use the passage in a property, subject to the deposit of 50 percent of the sale deed amount of '5.30 crore.
In the present appeal, Ananthie submitted that the Appellate Tribunal has failed to consider that Ramesh Pothys and his four brothers, instead of making payment to the actual seller Dhanalakshmi Sridhar, (21), had paid the sale consideration from their company M/s Pothys private limited into the bank account of Kumari, wife of Sridhar, who was residing along with her husband in Dubai and who was not a seller in the said transaction, which would clearly prove that the transaction involves money laundering.
The Appellate Tribunal has failed to consider that Sridhar, known as ‘Don’ Sridhar, fearing action being taken by the ED and to save the proceeds of the crime derived by him through various heinous crimes, has acquired properties in the names of his wife Kumari and his daughter Dhanalakshmi Sridhar and immediately sold the said properties worth about Rs 5 crore and above to Ramesh Pothys and to his four brothers, within a week’s time, for the much less profitable consideration of Rs 10 lakh. Hence, the transaction involved in this sale was not in the normal course, but was in the nature of money laundering and it stands to reason that the immoveable property transacted was involved in money laundering, Ananthie added.
He said the Appellate Tribunal has failed to consider that the government guideline value of the property was to the tune of '6.47 crore and the fair market value of the property was to the tune of Rs 25 crore as estimated by the authorised officer, and Ramesh Pothys and his brothers undervalued the property.
Moreover, the Tribunal has no power to direct them to pay 50 percent of the documentation value of the property. The purchase transaction made by Ramesh Pothy and his brothers was clearly proved as interconnected activities of money laundering, he added.
