News Analysis India

Tag: PMLA

  • ED arrests businessman in PMLA case against Mumbai realty group

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a businessman in connection with a money laundering case against city-based realty group Omkar Realtors and Developers, official sources said on Monday.

    They said Sachin Joshi was arrested under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Sunday after he was questioned here in connection with the case.

    Joshi is stated to be an actor and a promoter of the JMJ business group.

    His role and links with the realty group are being investigated, they said.

    Joshi is expected to be produced before a local court here on Monday where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, they said.

    The central probe agency had last month arrested chairman of Omkar Relators and Developers, Kamal Kishore Gupta and MD Babulal Varma (managing director) after raids were carried out against them and the group.

    The PMLA case pertains to alleged irregularities in the execution of the SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) scheme in development of a housing society in Mumbai.

    The company and the two executives are also facing allegations of “diverting” over Rs 400 crore loan from Yes bank.

    The ED case has been filed after studying an FIR of Aurangabad (Maharashtra) district police that was registered under various sections of IPC like cheating and criminal breach of trust, the agency had said earlier.

    The ED had quoted the police FIR to say that “Omkar Realtors and Developers Pvt Ltd and its directors bought a firm ‘Surana Construction’ which had SRA rights for re-development of Anand Nagar SRA Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai’s Wadala area”.

    “However, Omkar and its promoters did not pay back the amount due to the seller and also mortgaged future FSI (floor space index) of the said SRA project and took huge amounts of loans,” it said.

    The ED also claimed its probe found that “loans to the tune of Rs 410 crore were diverted and not used for intended purposes”.

    “No work of SRA building was undertaken. The requisite rules and procedures under SRA were ignored by the accused and documents relating to names of slum dwellers were forged to claim more FSI for mortgaging the same with banks for taking the loans,” the ED had alleged.

    Reacting to the arrests of its top executives last month, the company had said that it was “emphatic that Omkar Group is not in violation of any lending norms and slum approvals”.

  • ED takes possession of attached assets in PMLA case against Naxal leader

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has taken possession of assets worth Rs 16 lakh belonging to the wife of a Maoist commander operating in Jharkhand and Bihar, the central probe agency said on Tuesday.

    The action was taken in a money laundering case against Abhijeet Yadav alias Mahavir Yadav, an active member and sub-zonal commander of the banned CPI (Maoist), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

    The adjudicating authority for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had recently approved the attachment of assets action and this enabled the ED to take “possession” of such properties, the agency said.

    The attached assets include a land in Jharkhand’s Palamu district and bank deposits of Rs 16.49 lakh in the name of Yadav’s wife Gita Devi.

    The ED had booked Yadav, who is absconding, under the PMLA after studying various state police FIRs registered against him.

    Yadav has been charged for collection of levy, criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and extortion, the ED said.

    “The top Maoist leader is stated to be threatening and recovering levy forcibly and illegally from various development works going on in Gaya and Aurangabad districts of Bihar and in neighbouring Jharkhand’s Palamu district,” the agency said.

  • PMC Bank fraud: Enforcement Directorate arrests two after raids against Maharashtra MLA

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two people following raids on the premises of a firm promoted by a Maharashtra MLA for alleged “illegal diversion of bank funds” in the Rs 4,300-crore PMC Bank fraud and money laundering case, official sources said on Saturday.

    On Friday, the agency searched five residential and business premises linked to the Viva Group, promoted by Bahujan Vikas Agadhi (BVA) party chief and MLA Hitendra Thakur, its associates and two of its financial consultants in the Vasai-Virar area of Maharashtra’s Palghar district and Andheri, Juhu and Chembur suburbs of Mumbai, the sources said.

    Mehul Thakur, managing director of the Viva Group, and Gopal Chaturvedi, a chartered accountant, were arrested under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the raids.

    Action was taken against the two as they were allegedly not cooperating in the investigation.

    The ED will now seek their custody when they are produced before a local court in Mumbai on Saturday, the sources said.

    Rs 73 lakh cash, incriminating digital and documentary evidences were recovered during the operation.

    Thakur’s party had pledged the support of its three MLAs, including his legislator son Kshitij Thakur, to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Shiv Sena chief and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

    The NCP and the Congress are also part of the MVA.

    The central agency has filed a criminal case of money laundering to probe the alleged loan fraud in Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank in October 2019 against Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.

    It took cognisance of a Mumbai Police economic offences wing FIR against them that charged them with causing “wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore to PMC Bank and corresponding gains to themselves”.

    The raids were conducted to collect more evidence after it was found that the “Wadhawans in connivance with Viva Group have diverted more than Rs 160 crore from HDIL to many companies and entities belonging to Viva Group in the garb of commission”.

      “Source of these funds from HDIL to Viva Group is apparently the illegal fund diversion from PMC Bank,” the ED claimed in a statement issued on Friday.

    The agency said in a statement that it is also probing another instance involving the searched firm where the Wadhawans allegedly siphoned Rs 200 crore loan sanctioned by Yes Bank to a company called Mack Star Marketing Pvt Ltd.

    “This loan was siphoned by the Wadhawans by showing it for fictitious purpose,” it said.

    Yes Bank, its promoters and executives are being probed by the ED as part of a separate money laundering case linked to sanction of illegal loans to various entities.

    The ED had earlier questioned Varsha Raut, the wife of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in the PMC case for alleged transfer of Rs 55 lakh suspect funds as “interest free loan” into her account by Madhuri Raut, the wife of Pravin Raut, another accused in the case.

  • PMLA: Bail of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s ‘associate’ Amit Chandole rejected

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the bail plea of Amit Chandole, an alleged associate of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate.

    Chandole was arrested in November last year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case involving a firm providing security services and others.

    His bail plea was rejected by special PMLA Judge A A Nandgoankar, though the detailed order had not been made available as yet.

    The ED has said it is probing alleged suspicious dealings of Chandole, Sarnaik, security service providing firm Tops Group and its promoter Rahul Nanda, all of whom have denied the allegations.