The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Raj Singh Gehlot, promoter of the Ambience group, in a money-laundering case related to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 800 crore.
The agency is expected to seek Gehlot’s custody from the competent court for further probe in the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In July last year, the ED had searched the premises of Gehlot, his company Aman Hospitality Private Limited (AHPL), some other firms of the Ambience group, Director in the company Dayanand Singh, Mohan Singh Gehlot, and their associates.
The ED case against Gehlot is based on a 2019 FIR of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu against AHPL and its directors for alleged money laundering in the construction and development of the five-star Leela Ambience Convention Hotel near the Yamuna Sports Complex here. Gehlot is also a promoter of the Ambience Mall in Gurugram.
According to the ED probe, "a huge part of the loan amount of more than Rs 800 crore, which was sanctioned by a consortium of banks for the hotel project, was siphoned off by AHPL, Raj Singh Gehlot and his associates through a web of companies owned and controlled by them".
"A substantial part of the loan money was transferred by AHPL to several companies and individuals on the pretext of payment of running bills and advance for supply of material and work executed," the agency had alleged.
The employees of the Ambience group and Gehlot''s associates were made directors and proprietors in these companies and Gehlot was the "authorised signatory" in many of these entities, it had said, adding no material was supplied and no work was executed and almost the entire amount was immediately routed back to the entities owned by Raj Singh and his sons among others, it had alleged.