New Delhi: Rajeev Saxena, who was arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, moved a Delhi court Wednesday to become an approver in the case.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar sought the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) response on Saxena’s plea. The court has posted the matter for hearing tomorrow.
Saxena, who was present in the court, moved his application directly, stating it was ‘out of free will’ and ‘without any coercion’ and prayed that he ‘will make a full disclosure subject to the grant of pardon’.
“The applicant humbly prays, without prejudice to his defence, that he may be granted pardon approver under Section 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 subject to the condition that he will make a full disclosure, to the extent, the facts are within his knowledge of which he will make a true and proper disclosure subject to the grant of pardon,” his application said.
Saxena also said in his application said that he has cooperated with the investigation throughout and has made known entire facts regarding the case. He had been earlier granted bail by the court on medical grounds after perusing reports submitted by AIIMS.
The court had said that it was clear from the medical record submitted by AIIMS that Saxena is suffering from a number of serious ailments including blood cancer and needs constant medical checkups.
Saxena, who is in custody since January 31 after his deportation from Dubai, said in his bail plea that when all the other accused in the case, including Gautam Khaitan, Ritu Khaitan and SP Tyagi were out on bail, there could be ‘no justification’ to deny him the same relief.
Saxena, a director of two Dubai-based firms – UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings – is one of the accused named in the charge sheet filed by ED in the AgustaWestland case.
The ED had alleged that in connivance with Khaitan, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.
PTI