The special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act granted bail on Saturday to Jignesh Shah, promoter of Financial Technologies, and the scam-tainted National Spot Exchange.
The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Shah on July 12 on charges of money laundering through a scam in the National Spot Exchange and for allegedly not cooperating with the investigative agency.
He was released on a surety of Rs 2 lakh with a condition to deposit his passport in the court.
In its first charge sheet filed in April 2015, ED alleged a criminal conspiracy leading to the Rs 5,574-crore scam at NSEL, which was 99.99 per cent owned by FTIL.
The charge sheet listed a money trail amounting to Rs 3,721 crore. In 2013, ED had registered a criminal case against Shah and 67 others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
A week after Shah's arrest, the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police had frozen all the assets of FTIL, including its headquarters in Mumbai, under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors' Act.
FTIL's liquid assets such as banks’ fixed deposits, accounts and FTIL headquarters have been attached under the MPID Act. However, the court has granted permission to use the bank accounts to meet day-to-day expenses.
Expressing concern over slow progress in the case, the Centre recently directed the Maharashtra government to expedite the case and find an early resolution to quickly auction assets worth Rs 6,116 crore attached so far and refund investors who lost their money.