The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal of big bull Harshad Mehta challenging the pardon granted by the special court in 1993 to two UCO bank managers in the securities scam of 1992.
Mehta, along with Bhaskar Roychoudhury, then deputy general manager of the bank, and S V Prabhu, assistant general manager were charged by Central Bureau of Investigation with discounting bills of exchange worth Rs 50 crore.
The bankers have confessed before the Mumbai magistrate and later turned approvers in the case.
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Mehta's counsel, Ram Jethmalani, argued before a bench headed by Justice S P Bharucha that the special court had no power to grant pardon to the accused in the multi-crore scam.
However, Solicitor General Harish Salve countered that the special court had exclusive jurisdiction in all matters related to the scam. Even the cases before the magistrates had to be transferred and routed through the special court.
The Supreme Court agreed with him and ruled that the special court had originial criminal jurisdiction in scam matters.