The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has arrested Managing Director of IREO Group Lalit Goyal on money laundering charges in the judge bribery case.
The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by ACB, Panchkula, Haryana.
As per the FIR, reliable information was received that Sudhir Parmer (posted as Special Judge for CBI and ED cases at Panchkula at the material time) was showing favouritism to the accused persons Roop Kumar Bansal, his brother Basant Bansal, the owners of M3M Group and Lalit Goyal, the owner of IREO Group in lieu of undue advantage extended by Sudhir Parmar in the criminal cases of ED under PMLA and other cases of CBI pending against these accused persons in his court, the ED said in a statement.
“It is alleged that undue benefit was provided to Sudhir Parmar through this relative Ajay Parmar. It was further stated that as per reliable information instances of grave misconduct, abuse of official position and demand/ acceptance of undue advantage/ bribe from the accused persons in the cases pending in his court were observed,” it said.
Goyal was produced before the designated PMLA Court at Panchkula. The Court has granted custody of Goyal to ED till Friday following which the accused will be produced in the court.
ED has also arrested Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, promoters/ directors of M3M Group, and Ajay Parmar, relative of Sudhir Parmar in connection with this case. Further investigations are in progress, it added. In a separate case, the ED has arrested Amar Sadhuram Mulchandani, former chairman of Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank on July 1, 2023 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The arrest was made in connection with the ongoing investigation in the Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank fraud case in which the Bank has suffered a loss of Rs 429 crore in 124 non-performing asset (NPA) loan accounts. This has caused the Bank to go bankrupt causing loss to thousands of small depositors.