News Analysis India

Tag: PMLA

  • Jharkhand money laundering probe: Remand of IAS Pooja Singhal, CA Suman Kumar extended for four days

    Express News Service

    RANCHI: The Special PMLA Court has extended the remand of suspended IAS Pooja Singhal and CA Suman Kumar for other four-days. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had prayed for extending the remand of 9 and 5 days respectively for Singhal and Kumar, but granted only four day remand for each of them.

    The Enforcement Directorate, after interrogation for over 15 hours, had arrested mining secretary Pooja Singhal on Wednesday in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges while Chartered accountant Suman Kumar, associated with Singhal, had already been arrested three days back. A day after his arresting, the State Government suspended Singhal on May 12.

    ED was earlier given five-day remand for Pooja Singhal which ended on Monday.

    “Both were produced before the Court by ED seeking nine-day remand for Singhal and five-day remand for Kumar, but they granted four-day remand for each of them,” said ED Counsel BMP Singh.  

    They will be confronted from the digital device obtained from their possession, he added.

    Meanwhile, District Mining Officers (DMO) of Pakur and Dumka turned up at the zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate in Ranchi for interrogation while the Sahibganj DMO has sought some more time as he is busy with the marriage of his daughter and he is on leave till May 20.

    ED is also said to have written to Apple India seeking mobile details of mining secretary Pooja Singhal. WhatsApp has also been contacted for her chat details.

    The 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been taken into ED custody under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

    Singhal was arrested on second day of the questioning being done by the ED officials after her replies to the questions asked by ED during questioning were not satisfactory and her replies were evasive.

    According to the information provided to the court by ED earlier after arresting of CA Suman Kumar, Rs 1.43 crore more than the known sources of her income were recovered from the bank accounts of Pooja Singhal while she was Deputy Commissioner in Khunti, Palamu and Chatra. 

    The ED also claimed that Singhal purchased as many as 13 insurance policies by paying a premium of Rs 80.81 lakh and closed them before completion of their tenure and got Rs 84.64 lakh against it.

    Notably, the ED on May 6 conducted raids at several locations, including that of Pooja Singhal, in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of over Rs 18 crore MGNREGA funds in Khunti district during 2008-2011.

    The raids were conducted at a total of 18 locations including Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, NCR as well as Ranchi, Khunti and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.

  • ED raids multiple locations in ÀBG Shipyard bank loan fraud case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided multiple premises in Mumbai, Pune and Surat in connection with a money laundering probe against ABG Shipyard Ltd in an alleged Rs 22,842 crore bank loan fraud case, officials said.

    As many as 26 premises are being searched in these cities by the federal agency under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

    The ED had filed a money laundering case in February after studying a CBI FIR against the former promoters of the ship building company.

    The CBI had booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its then chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 22,842 crore.

    It had also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

  • ED submits 5,000-page charge-sheet against Malik in property case linked to Dawood

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday submitted a charge-sheet in a court here against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in an alleged money laundering case linked to fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, nearly two months after arresting him in the matter.

    Malik (62), a senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, was arrested by the ED on February 23 in the case, and is currently in jail under judicial custody. The over-5,000-page charge-sheet was submitted in the court’s registry, ED lawyers said.

    The special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases will take cognizance of the charge-sheet after verification of the documents, they said.

    The ED’s case is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist and key 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts accused, and his aides under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

    Earlier, during remand hearings, the central financial investigation agency had told the court Malik was the key conspirator and beneficiary of the “entire charade”.

    In lieu of getting control of illegal occupation of this property, he funded a prominent member of ‘D-Gang’ (Dawood gang) , the ED had said. It has claimed that for usurping “this property, members of the D-Gang and Nawab Malik connived together and executed several legal documents to put a facade of genuinity over this criminal act”.

    During his custodial interrogation, (previously arrested accused) Iqbal Kaskar (brother of Dawood Ibrahim) revealed certain facts about his sister Haseena Parker and her involvement in usurping high-valued properties of innocent citizens in Mumbai by using the clout of D-Gang, it had said.

    In course of the investigation, it was revealed one such victim of the D-Gang was one Munira Plumber, the agency had said.

    Plumber’s prime property (having present market value of Rs 300 crore) was usurped by Malik through Solidus Investments, a company owned by the minister’s family, with active connivance of members of the D-Gang, including Haseena Parkar, the ED had told the court.

    Plumber, in her statement to the ED, has said she had not sold this property to Malik, the agency said. It is also apparent that Malik is guilty of the offence of money laundering as defined under provisions of the PMLA, the probe agency has said.

    Malik, who has denied all charges levelled against him, has moved the Supreme Court against an order of the Bombay High Court which had rejected his interim application seeking immediate release from jail.

  • National Herald case: Congress leader Pawan Bansal appears before ED

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday appeared before the ED here for questioning in a money laundering case related to the party-promoted Young Indian that owns National Herald newspaper, officials said.

    The former Union minister arrived with a bunch of files at the new Enforcement Directorate (ED) headquarters located in central Delhi around 10.30 AM.

    His statement will be recorded by the agency under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.

    The ED had on Monday questioned senior Congress politician and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge for about five hours in connection with the case.

    The National Herald is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited.

    Kharge is stated to be the CEO of the Young Indian while Bansal (73) is the managing director of AJL and also the interim treasurer of the Congress.

    The questioning of the veteran Congress leaders is part of ED’s investigation to understand the share holding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, officials said.

    The agency registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013, sources had said.

    The agency is expected to summon other promoters of the Young Indian soon.

    The first family of the Congress party, including party president Sonia Gandhi and her MP-son Rahul Gandhi, are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.

    After the ED examined Kharge on Monday, the Congress party’s whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore accused the government of “harassing” the senior Congress leader.

    Tagore said the government “wants to insult Dalit leaders”, and added Kharge would not surrender to such tactics.

    Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.

    The Delhi High Court had in February last year issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response on Swamy’s plea seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court.

    They, however, contended in the Delhi High Court that the petition was “misconceived and premature”.

    The other accused in this case are journalist-author Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda.

    They have earlier denied any wrongdoing.

  • Allegations against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik look to be well-founded: PMLA court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe that allegations against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik are “well-founded”, observed a special court here while remanding him in the custody of the ED in connection with a money laundering case.

    Special judge RN Rokade, designated to hear matters related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), also said that sufficient time is required to be granted for the investigation of the offence and Malik’s custodial interrogation was necessary.

    The court on Wednesday remanded Malik, a senior NCP leader, in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate till March 3. Its detailed order was made available on Friday. Malik was arrested by the ED on Wednesday in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.

    The court, in its order, said it appears from the report that accused has not cooperated with the investigation on the crucial aspect. “Prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations are well-founded under PMLA,”the judge observed.

    The court held that the probe was at a nascent stage and Malik’s custodial interrogation is necessary to unearth all the ramifications involved in the crime. “The proceeds of crime have traversed since last 20 years and more. Therefore, sufficient time is required to be granted for the investigation of the offence,” the judge said.

    The ED case is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Ibrahim, a fugitive gangster, and others. The NIA had filed its criminal complaint under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

  • Rs 19,111 cr assets attached out of total fraud by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi: Centre tells SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI; The ‘timely attachment’ of proceeds of crime has led to the attachment of assets worth over Rs 19,000 crore out of the “total fraud” of over Rs 22,500 crore by three fugitive offenders Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.

    These figures were mentioned in the note submitted by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in the apex court, which is hearing arguments on a batch of petitions concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    While advancing his submissions in the matter on Thursday, Mehta, who is appearing for the Centre, told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that he had yesterday referred to the attachment of assets worth over Rs 18,000 crore of these three persons.

    “It is submitted that timely attachment of proceeds of crime has led to attachment of assets worth of Rs 19,111.20 crore out of total fraud of Rs 22,585.83 crore by three fugitive offenders namely Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi,” Mehta has said in his note filed before the bench, which also comprised Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

    It said that out of the attached proceeds of crime from these three individuals, assets of Rs 15,113.91 crore have already been returned to the public sector banks by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the relevant provision of the PMLA through the order of the court.

    The note further said that assets worth Rs 335.06 crore have been confiscated to the Government of India i.e.66.91 per cent of a total loss to the banks in these 3 cases has been returned back to them by the ED.

    It is pertinent to mention here that SBI has already recovered cash of Rs 7,975.27 crore by selling a part of assets returned to it by the ED.

    “The process of liquidation of other restituted assets by the banks is continuing,” Mehta has said in his note.

    The arguments in the matter would continue next week. Some of these petitions have challenged the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA.

  • Some superheroes are called dad, says Nawab Malik’s daughter after his arrest

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Some superheroes don’t wear capes, they are called dad, said Nilofer Malik, daughter of Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday.

    The ED arrested Malik after questioning him for about five hours at its office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate area in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.

    The 62-year-old NCP leader was later produced before special Judge R N Rokade, who remanded him to ED custody till March 3 for further probe into the matter.

    When the minister was brought to the court, Nilofer, who was waiting on the premises, got an opportunity to meet her father, although briefly.

    When the ED’s vehicle carrying Malik entered the court premises and stopped, Nilofer could not stop her tears. She went close to the SUV, held her father’s hand and hugged him after opening the vehicle’s door. She then kissed her father’s hand and raised her clenched fist to show her support.

    A video of the emotional moment between the father-daughter duo was later circulated on social media. Along with Nilofer, Malik’s another daughter was also present inside the court during the hearing.

    After the brief meeting with her father, Nilofer said in a tweet, “Some superheroes don’t wear capes. They are called Dad.” with hashtags #NawabMalikMyHero #NawabMalik #WeStandWithNawabMalik.

  • PMLA: Cash travels faster than light, says SC, stresses need for faster probe into money laundering

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: “Cash travels faster than light,” observed the Supreme Court on Tuesday while stressing the need for a fast investigation if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) comes across an intelligence input indicating huge illegal money laundering.

    A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar, dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA, referred to a situation saying if ED gets actionable input of illegal money transaction and asked whether it should wait for registration of an FIR by police or other agencies for the predicate offence before swinging into the action to probe the money laundering.

    “Cash travels faster than light. The evidence may vanish quickly if the agency (ED) waits for registration of the FIR (for predicate offence),” observed the bench which also comprised justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

    The bench again referred to its question of whether the Enforcement Directorate will have jurisdiction to probe the unaccounted money under PMLA in the absence of a prior FIR registered for the predicate offence.

    Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), ED registers an ECIR (enforcement case information report) to probe laundering of proceeds of a crime, committed prior, for which an FIR is already there.

    Senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that the ED cannot have the jurisdiction that statute does not provide for.

    Desai referred to Section 19 of the PMLA and said that the ED cannot have the unbridled power of arrest and attachment of properties as these authorities are draconian.

    The bench referred to the language of the provision and said that the power of arrest is exercised by the Director, Deputy Director, Assistant Director, or any other officer authorised on this behalf by the Central Government by general or special order.

    Moreover, the officer has to give the reasons in writing after scrutinising the prima facie materials before proceeding with the arrest of the accused, it said.

    “It is not the peon or clerk which can have the power of arrest under section 19 of the Act….rather this right to arrest is supported by Article 21 (protection of life and liberty) of the constitution,” the bench said. The court would resume hearing on Wednesday.

    Earlier on February 10, the bench had referred to the recent recovery of cash to the tune of Rs 190 crore in Uttar Pradesh and had asked if ED will have no jurisdiction to probe the unaccounted money under PMLA in the absence of a predicate offence.

    Prior to this, the bench was told that there cannot be “mechanical lodging” of an ECIR as the PMLA requires that there must be some indication of the act of money laundering and projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had earlier told the bench that there are over 200 petitions in the matter and interim stays have been granted in several serious cases due to which investigation has been affected.

    Some of these petitions have challenged the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA.

  • Money laundering case: Court refuses bail to ex-Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh’s aide

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The statement of a former policeman cannot be “thrown out” at the stage of bail merely because he is not a person of “good conduct”, noted a special PMLA court here in its order refusing bail to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s personal assistant Kundan Shinde.

    Special PMLA Judge MG Deshpande had rejected Shinde’s bail plea on December 7, and the detailed order was made available on Friday.

    Shinde was arrested on June 26 by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged role in a money laundering case in which the accused include Deshmukh and dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze. Waze, in his statement to the ED, said that Deshmukh introduced him to Shinde during a meeting at the then home minister’s official residence.

    Waze also disclosed the manner in which he collected Rs 4.7 crore between December last year and February, 2021 at the behest of Deshmukh, adding that the collected amount was handed over to Shinde on multiple occasions.

    The court said it is clear from the statement of Waze the said money, approximately Rs 4.7 crore, which he handed over to Shinde was illegal collection from various bar owners across Mumbai, and was nothing but proceeds of crime as defined under the provisions of PMLA Act.

    However, Shinde’s lawyer Ejaz Khan argued there was nothing against his client except statements and words of Waze, and that the dismissed policeman’s statements cannot be believed as they are made with an “actuated malice” and without absolutely any corroboration. “This fact cannot be ignored at the stage of bail and the statement of Waze cannot be thrown out merely because he is not a person of good conduct as argued by Ejaz Khan, ” the court said.

    Conspiracy is always hatched in secrecy and direct evidence thereof, even during the course of trial, cannot be obtained, and inferences have to be drawn for the same, the judge said.

    “Even if the argument of the advocate that Waze created, fabricated, imaginary false story and implicated the applicant is considered, yet a question remains how any person, including Waze, can build up or fabricate the story with such minute details regarding dates of meetings, dates of collection etc,” the court observed.

    It said that at this juncture, the statements under the provisions of PMLA Act, which have corroboration of the details in respect of money transfers, cannot be disbelieved. The court held there is a strong prima facie case which points out to the involvement of the applicant.

    An offence under PMLA is very serious and bail applications have to be dealt with strictly considering the gravity, magnitude and the message which will be conveyed to law abiding people, the court said. The ED’s case is that Deshmukh, while serving as home minister, misused his official position and collected Rs 4.7 crore from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai through Waze.

    The money was allegedly laundered through the Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha, an education trust controlled by Deshmukh’s family. Deshmukh has refuted the allegations and has claimed the agency’s whole case was based on malicious statements made by Waze.

  • ED attaches assets of spices trading co in Jammu & Kashmir Bank loan fraud case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 145 crore of a Bengaluru-based spices company in a money laundering probe linked to an alleged loan fraud in the J&K Bank.

    The agency said in a statement issued on Wednesday that a factory building, shops, flats and lands of the company, SA Rawther Spices Pvt Ltd, and others were provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It said that the total value of the attached properties is Rs 145.26 crore.

    The ED case stems from an FIR filed by the anti-corruption bureau of the J-K Police against the company and its promoter director Syed Anish Rawther, the then manager of J&K Bank branch located at BU Infantry Road in Bengaluru and other officials of the same bank, in August, 2019.

    “In the FIR, it was alleged that SA Rawther Spices Pvt Ltd defaulted loan and was declared NPA (non performing asset) in September, 2017. Net amount of Rs 285.81 crore was outstanding with the company besides unapplied interest of Rs 66.91 crore against mortgaged collateral property of Rs 171 crore,” the ED said in a statement.

    During the same period, it said, the firm “also borrowed Rs 16.5 crore from HDFC Bank and Rs 25 crore from RBL Bank and mortgaged the same property, which was already mortgaged with J&K Bank Ltd”. “The then branch manager (of J&K Bank) in connivance with promoter/director of the company caused loss to the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 352.72 crore,” the agency claimed.

    It claimed that the company obtained multiple loans, and used them to export goods mostly to related parties and the export proceeds were never realised in India. “The company also diverted the funds to sister/group concerns by adjustment of their overdue export bills by releasing fresh packing credit, Inland Letters of Credit (ILC) towards dealings with sister concerns by way of accommodation of bills under garb of ILC,” he added.

    “It was found that SA Rawther Spices Pvt Ltd has availed packing credit loans from J&K Bank and used the same for servicing instalments towards term loan account of Central Trade Agency Pvt Ltd., which is a sister concern of the former company,” it said.