High court relief for Adani Group in Rs 29,000 crore Imports Case

A Bombay HC order has brought to a halt an overseas investigation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence into the alleged Rs 29,000-crore overvaulation of Indonesian coal imports by the Adani Group.

The HC quashed all Letters Rogatory (LR) sent by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to 14 countries, including Singapore & United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking information into the alleged overvaluation. An Letters Rogatory (LR) is a formal request to another country, seeking judicial assistance in accessing information on an offshore entity in a probe.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is probing at least 40 companies, including the Essar Group, for overvaluation of imports. News Agency was the 1^st to report on the scam in its Dec 14, 2014, edition.

Making it clear that it hasn't gone into the merits of the Letters Rogatory (LR)s, the HC said: "We have only dealt with the contention as to whether it was permissible for the magistrate to issue such a Letter Rogatory without following the procedure mandated under the Criminal Procedure Code."

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) began probing a non-cognisable offence without obtaining the necessary permission from the magistrate & in such circumstances, the Letters Rogatory (LR)s issued don't meet the test, said a bench of Justices Bharati Dangre & Ranjit More.

Implication:

The case deals with a fundamental question regarding the commission of offence punishable under Customs Act, 1962 & whether or not, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is entitled to take recourse to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for issuance of the Letter of Rogatory by the Magistrate. The Bombay HC held that this provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) isn't an independent island on which any investigating/ inquiring authority can jump on without taking recourse to filing of a First Information Report (FIR) & hence the letter rogatory issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) stands quashed.

Source Link