No HC relief to attachment of FTIL bank accounts by EOW

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the attachment process of Financial Technologies India (FTIL)’s assets including its bank accounts and FTIL Tower, the company’s headquarters. The court asked the company to file a separate petition seeking permission to use its bank account for meeting day-to-day operations. As of now, that is not permitted which has put employees’ salaries at risk.

The attachment has been initiated by the economic offenses wing (EOW) of Mumbai police last week in the ~5,600-crore National Spot Exchange (NSEL) scam. “We prayed for ad interim relief based on the February order of the EOW in which the same court had asked us to deposit ~84 crore before the court. This is the amount EOW has found moved from NSEL to FTIL. Following the deposit of the money, the court granted us ad interim relief. We would move a proper application as per the court’s direction tomorrow (Wednesday) or a day after (Thursday) seeking ad interim relief from the court,” said FTIL’s counsel Tushad Cooper. In another case, a sessions court on Tuesday adjourned the bail application of Jignesh Shah, promoter of FTIL, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 13. Shah, who has spent five days in ED custody, has been sent to judicial custody till August 1.

The two-judge bench comprising A S Oka and A S Syed hearing FTIL’s prayer noted that the company’s earlier prayer seeking stay on the attachment of immovable properties worth ~2,000 crore was rejected by the same court last week. The EOW had attached FTIL’s immovable properties and bank accounts in connection with ~5,600 crore payment default, which took place at its subsidiary NSEL three years ago.

The attachment has been initiated by the economic offenses wing of Mumbai police last week in the ~5,600cr NSEL scam