The Enforcement Directorate of (ED) has provisionally attached proceeds of crime in the form of immovable assets valued at Rs. 20.96 crore belonging to Udai Shanker Awasthi, Managing Director of IFFCO on money laundering charges in its ongoing investigation against Directors of IFFCO and Indian Potash Limited (IPL) as also others.
The attached properties include residential houses here including a property located at HauzKhas Enclave which he had transferred to himself from IFFCO, Gurugram and Himachal Pradesh.
Earlier, ED had attached movable assets (FDRs) valued at Rs 27.79 crore in the name of Amarendra Dhari Singh, USD 47,54,606 (Rs 36.55 crore as per prevailing exchange rate) lying in the Swiss Bank Accounts of Atrium Holdings Limited and Artistic Holdings Limited (both beneficially owned by Pankaj Jain) besides residential and commercial properties valued at Rs. 54.11 lakh belonging to Pankaj Jainin this case.
The total attachment in this case comes to about Rs 86 crore so far.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of a case registered by CBI May 17, 2021 against various suspects including Awasthi, Pankaj Jain, Promoter of Jyoti Trading Corporation and Rare Earth Group, Dubai, Amarendra Dhari Singh and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct.
The ED probe has revealed that Awasthi and others in IFFCO generated ‘Proceeds of Crime’ and layered it through various unrelated entities and part of crime proceeds was then transferred to the entities controlled by Awasthi and others.
ED had also filed a Prosecution Complaint chargesheet) before a Special Court here on July 30, 2021 against six accused.