Jacqueline Fernandez knew of conman's criminal past, received gifts anyway: ED

Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez has now been accused of knowing about conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar's criminal past and yet she chose to go ahead with monetary transactions with him, as per ED's supplementary charge sheet.

The government body said in its filing that the actress was not the only one benifitting from this relationship, even her friends and family members have recieved gifts and other financial favours from Chandrashekhar, as reported by news agency ANI.

The ED, which is responsible for enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and certain provisions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, reported in its charge sheet that the actor had 'acquired, possessed and used part proceeds of crime- valuable gifts' for herself as well as members of her family both in India and abroad. Thus, committing an offence of money laundering under section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, which is punishable under section 4 of the PMLA, 2002, according to a report by Hindustan Times. 

The ED, in its charge sheet, accused the actress of giving in to the 'lure of money' and that the criminal history of the person (who is a convicted felon) did not matter because of the financial benefits attached to him. ED further added that Jacqueline Fernandez has been changing her story pertaining to the gifts received by her and her relatives from Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

“It was only upon confrontation with evidence and statements on record that she divided the details. Yet, she had been denying certain assets purchased by Sukesh for her and the investigation on that aspect is going on from the collection of evidence,” the ED said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

“The accused Jacqueline Fernandez, despite knowing that accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar has committed scheduled offences and out of those proceeds of crime generated through various criminal activities related to the schedule offences, the part proceeds of crime has been directly received in India and abroad as well by accused Jacqueline Fernandez for the use and enjoyment by herself and her family members and thereby projecting as loan amount in the form of transfers made into the accounts of the sister and brother of accused Jacqueline Fernandez and also bought cars for the father and mother of accused Jacqueline Fernandez and thereby acquired and enjoyed POC," a part of the charge sheet read.

It is worth noting that the charge sheet has come to light on Wednesday, the day a Delhi court summoned Fernandez in ED's case against Chandrashekar. It has been reported in the media that additional sessions judge Praveen Singh took note of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED, and summoned Fernandez to appear before the court on September 26.

Jacqueline Fernandez, who has been summoned by the ED multiple times in the past connection with their investigation, has now been named as an accused for the first time in the supplementary charge sheet.

The ED stated in the supplemetary charge sheet that Fernandez's statements were recorded on August 30 and October 20 of 2021, where she admitted to having received gifts from the conman.