Arvind Johari gets conditional bail

Our Markets Bureau

Mumbai, Aug 14: Arvind Johari, promoter of Lucknow-based Cyberspace Infosys Ltd and prime accused in the Rs 32.08-crore scam involving the Unit Trust of India, was on Tuesday released on conditional bail by a special court here.

Designated judge SR Mehra granted him on a bail amount of Rs 7.5 lakh. Incidentally, this is the highest amount of bail on which an accused in the UTI-Cyberspace scam is released.

Other accused in this case are former UTI chairman PS Subramanyam, former UTI executive directors MM Kapur and SK Basu. All three were released last week on a bail amount of Rs 1.50 lakh each, while stock broker Rakesh G Mehta was released on a bail amount of Rs 3 lakh.

Mr Johari was directed by the court not to leave the country without permission and was also restrained from visiting offices of the UTI, SBI Capital Market, LIC, GIC and The Stock Exchange Mumbai, (BSE) till September 15.

According to sources in the economic offence wing (EOW) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Johari would be sent back to Lucknow from where he was brought to Mumbai on transfer remand in the last week of July. He was remanded to judicial custody by the special CBI court in Lucknow in a case related to Century Consultant Ltd, another company floated by him.

Earlier on August 6, the court had ordered the release of Subramanyam, Kapur and Basu along with Mehta on conditional bail after spending two weeks in CBI custody and there after in jail.
The judge directed the accused to co-operate with the CBI and attend its office from Monday to Friday between 12 noon and 4 pm from Wednesday till September 15.

Further, the accused UTI officials and Mehta have been directed not to leave the country or the jurisdiction of the court (city of Mumbai) without prior permission.

After being released on bail, the former UTI chairman had clarified immediately on Thursday last that, he never discussed any investment proposal as regards Cyberspace Infosys Ltd with any official of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). He categorically stated that he did speak to PMO official, one Mr Sudhendra Kulkarni but had not discussed the Cyberspace investment proposal.

Mr Kulkarni never spoke to me about Cyberspace or about any other investment decisions of UTI, Subramanyam asserted.

The talks with Mr Kulkarni on the telephone were in connection with the funding of the National Highway Development Project. The statement said I specifically interacted with Mr Kulkarni on the funding aspects of the highway development and other infrastructure projects.