Apex Court Allows NRI Accused In Imported Coal Scam To Withdraw Plea

The Apex Court permitted the withdrawal of a petition filed by an NRI accused in a money laundering case connected to an alleged imported coal scam today.

Ahmed AR Buhari’s representative requested the Vacation Bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka to withdraw the Special Leave Petition, allowing him to seek bail from the appropriate authority instead. The Bench, including Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, granted the request, dismissing the petition as withdrawn while leaving all legal matters open.

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Earlier, the Madras High Court in its March 8 order noted that Buhari had filed number of petitions, causing delays in the trial and investigative process. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a money laundering case based on an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Buhari, who heads Coastal Energy Pvt. Ltd. in Chennai, and unnamed officials of PSUs under various IPC sections and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Investigations revealed that Buhari’s control over Coastal Energy Private Limited, Coastal Energen Private Limited, and offshore entities in Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands.

According to the investigations, PSUs received lower-calorific-value coal instead of specified higher-quality coal in tenders executed by CEPL or MMTC. CEPL, possibly through MMTC, supplied coal using inflated invoices for lower-quality coal, supported by fraudulent Certificates of Sampling and Analysis (COSA), while suppressing the genuine COSA that depicted the actual coal quality. Investigations estimated Buhari’s proceeds of crime at Rs 564.48 crore from the coal overvaluation scheme.