The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on AAP leader Deepak Singla’s petition challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order dismissing his bail plea in a money-laundering case.A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the ED to respond to Singla’s petition against the September 9 order of the high court.Senior counsel Kapil Sibal represented Singla – who was arrested by the ED on May 18.The AAP leader is accused of fraudulent enhancement of foreign letters of credit, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 155.21 crore to Oriental Bank of Commerce.The CBI registered an FIR in 2018 on a complaint filed by an assistant general manager of the erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce. The agency alleged that Mahesh Timber Private Ltd, through its Singapore-based subsidiary and in connivance with private persons and a bank official, fraudulently enhanced foreign letters of credit through unauthorised SWIFT amendments, without corresponding entries in the bank’s Finacle system, causing an alleged wrongful loss of about Rs 155.21 crore to the bank.The principal outstanding against the company was subsequently found to be Rs 239.46 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed its chargesheet on August 10, 2020, following which the ED initiated proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The investigation found that foreign letters of credit were enhanced to Rs 173.03 crore against their original value of Rs. 21.47 crore and that bills of entry, bills of lading and other import documents were forged to siphon off the funds, it was alleged.Singla was named as an accused in the ED’s second supplementary prosecution complaint, with the prosecution alleging that he knowingly assisted the main accused in the concealment, layering and routing of proceeds of crime through his personal accounts and connected entities.The prosecution has specifically attributed to the petitioner a role concerning his association with Mahesh Timber Private Limited and allied entities, the alleged routing of funds through Sourabh Enterprises and Jai Durga Enterprises and the alleged transfer of substantial amounts through entities connected with the main accused, the high court observed.The material relied upon by the ED, at this stage, prima facie reflects that the role attributed to the petitioner is required to be examined in the context of the larger conspiracy and the alleged laundering of proceeds of crime, it had said. With PTI