The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth ` 61.38 crore, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in its ongoing investigations regarding siphoning of public funds from Bhushan Steel Limited (BSL), Bhushan Energy Limited (BEL) and others.
The attached assets consist of agricultural land in Raigad, Maharashtra, warehouses in entities under the control of erstwhile promoters of BSL.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of complaints filed by Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) under various provisions of Companies Act, 2013 and Indian Penal Code against Bhushan Steel Limited, Bhushan Energy Limited and others involving siphoning of public funds, the agency said. .
“During the investigations under PMLA, it was revealed that Neeraj Singal alongwith B.B. Singal (former promoters of BSL) and others had diverted funds from BSL through an elaborate and complex web of transactions by way of routing of public funds in the garb of unsecured loans given by Bhushan Energy Limited to their associate companies, which were ultimately utilized for acquisition of various immovable properties. The elaborate and complex web of transaction was structured to project these assets as untainted,” it said.
The ED has also provisionally attached assets worth `9.28 crore beneficially owned by Vinay Mishra, Vikas Mishra and Anup Majee under the PML Act in the illegal coal mining case of West Bengal.