Initiating fresh action in the VVIP choppers deal money laundering probe case, the ED on Monday conducted searches in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad on at least 10 premises of some involved firms and froze shares worth over Rs86 crore kept by them in foreign shores.
Officials said the agency seized a number of documents during the searches from the premises of the firms and entities brought under the action as they were ‘connected’ to the case. During the searches, conducted under the provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA), the agency issued orders to freeze shares of certain firms worth Rs86.07 crore that are located in Dubai, Mauritius and Singapore. The agency had recently filed a fresh charge sheet in the case naming British national and alleged middlemen in the deal Christian Michel James as part of its probe. The ED had registered a PMlA case in this regard in 2014 and named 21 people, including Tyagi, in its FIR.