The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has attached movable and immovable properties worth over Rs 350 crore in 10 separate cases of money laundering. The attachments include properties worth Rs 197.34 crore of real estate company Unitech, worth Rs 73 crore in coal block cases of two firms—Visa Power Ltd. and Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd and over Rs 67.06 crore in four cases of banking frauds by business entities.
In the Unitech case, the ED has attached 10 properties, including a resort each in Sikkim (Gangtok) and Kerala (Alappuzha), under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“The registered value of these immovable properties is Rs 197.34 crore and these immovable properties are owned by the various entities of Carnoustie Group,” the ED said.
“The Unitech Group had diverted proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 325 crore to Carnoustie Group and in turn, the entities of Carnoustie Group purchased several immovable properties from these funds,” the ED said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the agency had similarly attached assets worth Rs 152.48 crore of the Unitech Group.
A criminal case was registered under various sections of the PMLA against the Unitech Group and its
promoters over allegations that the owners —Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra — illegally diverted over Rs 2,000 crore to Cyprus and Cayman Island.
Recently, the agency
had also searched 35 premises in Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) and Mumbai as part of a probe in the case.
This apart, the agency’s money laundering investigation has revealed that Visa Power Ltd was awarded Fatehpur Coal Block and Fatehpur East Coal Block in 2007 by misrepresenting the capacity of its end use power plant to be of 1000 MW and networth of the principal company Vida Minmetal AG, Switzerland.
“By the end of FY (financial year) 2014, before the cancellation of Coal Block in September, total capital infused in the company was more than Rs 200 crore. Further, it was found that the capital infused is under the garb of coal block allocation. The entire fund has been used for project development including purchase of land at Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
During investigation, properties having
market value of Rs 71.81 crore have been identified and investigation has revealed that the same have been acquired by proceeds of crime.
Provisional Attachment order has been issued worth Rs 72 Crore (approximately),” the ED said in a statement.
In the case of Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd, the PMLA probe was initiated on the basis of a CBI FIR for alleged irregularity in allocation of Rajahra East Coal Block. Money laundering investigation in this case revealed that Vijay Joshi laundered Rs 4.35 crore through a maze of companies for acquiring shares of Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd from the earlier promoters. After transfer of shares in favour of Vijay Joshi, Rajahra East Coal Block was allocated to this Company. Incidentally, Vijay Joshi was also an accused in the case of Madhu Koda, being tried at the Special Court at Ranchi.
Two fixed deposits amounting to Rs 90 Lakh in the name of Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd, which are kept as lien with PNB, Ranchi, have also been attached, the agency said.
In four cases of banking frauds by business entities, the ED has attached movable and immovable assets worth over Rs 67.06 crore.
Meanwhile, the ED has also attached movable and immovable properties worth over Rs 6.27 crore in two separate cases of scheduled offence of Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Asset) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 against Sundru Bhagwandas Hiranandani and RP Mansinghka.