Adani News

Tag: ED

  • ED attaches assets worth Rs 58 lakh of Ludhiana travel agent

    ED attaches assets worth Rs 58 lakh of Ludhiana travel agent

    New Delhi (IANS) | The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 58 lakh of Nitish Ghai, a Ludhiana-based travel agent, in a money laundering case. The attached properties are commercial properties in Ludhiana. ED officials have given this information on Friday. The ED had initiated the PMLA probe against Ghai and others on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Punjab Police at various police stations in Ludhiana district. Ghai and his associates were accused of duping the general public by luring them to provide work permit visas to foreign countries. The accused never refunded the payments made by the victims.

    On verification of the FIRs registered by the police, it was found that at present 35 cases are pending or under investigation, on the basis of which the proceedings of the offense were ascertained.

    The ED said that during the investigation Ghai’s bank accounts were checked, which revealed that he used to take money from common people in lieu of granting work permits abroad. Thereafter, this cash was deposited in the bank accounts operated by him, his family members and various consultancy firms run by him.

    The deposited cash was used for acquisition of immovable properties in the name of him and his family members. Further investigation is on in the matter.

    –IANS

  • Liquor scam accused withdraw plea challenging ED action

    Liquor scam accused withdraw plea challenging ED action

    Raipur. Chhattisgarh’s Rs 2000 crore liquor scam accused withdraw plea challenging ED action. The SC made a stern remark that the provisions of the PMLA Act have been upheld. Still the accused are challenging them for protection from arrest. This is an abuse of judicial process.

    Significantly, the ED has claimed corruption and money laundering of more than Rs 2,000 crore in liquor in the state. Anwar Dhebar has been arrested in this. The ED has claimed that a scam of Rs 2 thousand crore has taken place in the state from 2019 to 2022. It had the support of big leaders and officials of the state. Anwar Dhebar has been accused of selling raw liquor in government liquor shop and earning profit from it.

    Trilok Singh Dhillon is alleged to have voluntarily and knowingly allowed his bank accounts and firms to be used for large amounts of scam money. In this case the main beneficiary is ED has frozen FDs worth Rs 27.5 crore in the name of his firms involved in money laundering and also seized Rs 52 lakh in cash.

  • ED attaches Udhayanidhi Foundation’s properties in Kallal Group case

    ED attaches Udhayanidhi Foundation’s properties in Kallal Group case

    CHENNAI: The trouble from central agencies came closer home to Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin after the Enforcement Directorate attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of a foundation named after his son and cabinet colleague Udhayanidhi Stalin. Also, properties across Tamil Nadu worth Rs 36.3 crore were attached provisionally on May 25, the central agency revealed on Saturday.

    In a statement, the ED said it had initiated investigations on the basis of an FIR registered by Central Crime Branch-I, Chennai, under various sections of the IPC, after a subsidiary of UK-based Lyca Group filed complained against Kallal group and its key executives Saravanan Palaniappan, Vijaykumaran, Aravinth Raj and Vijay Ananth, alongwith Lakshmi Muthuraman and Preetha Vijayananth.

    The directorate said its investigations revealed that the fraud is actually of an amount of Rs 300 crore, as the Lyca group had also made other investments and loans to the Kallal group and its entities.

    As part of the investigation, the directorate conducted searches at firms and individuals linked to both the accused and the complainant, which unearthed evidence in form of digital, documents, properties, suspicious cash and hawala transactions. All these are still under investigation, it said.

    Meanwhile, in order to secure part of the proceeds of crime, ED has provisionally attached various immovable properties across Tamil Nadu, valued at Rs 36.3 crore and further attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of Udayanidhi Stalin Foundation on May 25. The foundation received the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 1 crore, but its trustees failed to explain the rationale for getting the money from the parties involved in the case, the ED said in a press note

    Thus total Proceeds of crime in the case is pegged at around Rs 300 crore, of which Immovable properties valued at Rs 36.3 crore and movable properties in the form of bank account with available balance of Rs 34.7 lakh have been attached, it added. Further investigations are on.

  • Delhi Liquor Policy: ED Conducts Fresh Raids Including At Premises Of AAP MP’s Associates

    Delhi Liquor Policy: ED Conducts Fresh Raids Including At Premises Of AAP MP’s Associates

    The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted fresh searches, including at the premises of some people linked to AAP MP Sanjay Singh here, in connection with its ongoing probe in the money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi liquor policy, officials sources said. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also issued a Twitter video message, saying two of his associates– Ajit Tyagi and Sarvesh Mishra– are also being raided by the federal agency. Sources said about half a dozen entities are being covered under the searches being undertaken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    The action was undertaken after some fresh inputs were obtained during the questioning of few accused involved in the case. The sources said some of the people who are being searched are linked to Singh. The Rajya Sabha MP had sometime back written to the Union finance secretary seeking sanction to prosecute the ED director and an assistant director and investigating officer of the liquor policy case for allegedly making “false and derogatory claims” against him in connection with this probe.

    ED sources had then said that the agency had filed an application, on April 20, in a court seeking to correct a “typographical/clerical” error related to the name of Sanjay Singh in its charge sheet. The agency sources had said Singh’s name appears four times in the charge sheet out of which one reference was wrong as his name was typed “inadvertently” in place of Rahul Singh’s.

    It is alleged by the ED and the CBI that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the

  • ED attached 14 properties of IAS Anil Tuteja

    ED attached 14 properties of IAS Anil Tuteja

    Raipur. The ED has attached 119 properties worth ₹121.87 crore of IAS Anil Tuteja, Anwar Dhebar, Arunpati Tripathi, Arvind Singh and Vikas Agarwal in the ₹2000 crore liquor scam case of Chhattisgarh. In this, 14 properties belong to IAS Anil Tuteja, whose value is ₹ 8.883 crore. In this, earlier the agency had attached assets worth ₹ 58 crores i.e. assets worth ₹ 180 crores have been attached so far. ED has issued this information in a press release.

    After the arrest of the same ED, now the information of the chat between the businessman Anwar Dhebar and Tripathi present in the jail is being extracted. Some intelligence meetings also used to take place between them. There is talk of involvement of businessmen and some Congress leaders in this. The news of talking in code word has come to the fore in the chat. ED is probing it. The ED claims that the jewelery was found from the same distiller. Apart from this, cash of Rs 20 lakh has been found from the house of one of the accused. Which the ED has mentioned in the documents.

    ED’s advocate Saurabh Pandey had also said in the court last time that Arunpati (AP) Tripathi also performed husband’s religion. He set up a company in the name of his wife. This company prepared the hologram of liquor consumed in the state. Tripathi got it paid to a company named after his wife.

  • ED seizes gold worth over Rs 1 Cr, cash around Rs 15 lakh in Bhubaneswar

    ED seizes gold worth over Rs 1 Cr, cash around Rs 15 lakh in Bhubaneswar

    Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized gold worth over Rs 1 crore and cash around Rs 15 lakh during raids in Bhubaneswar recently.

    The ED officials seized cash amounting to Rs 15 Lakhs and gold jewellery weighing 1.978 Kgs worth Rs 1.13 Crore during raid on the Surnag Builders Private Limited and G D S Builders Private Limited.

    “ED has carried out search operations under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 on 18.5.2023 8 residential and commercial premises in Bhubaneswar in bank fraud cases pertaining to M/s GDS Builders Pvt. Ltd., M/s Surnag Builders Pvt. Ltd. and others,” said the law enforcement and economic intelligence agency on its Twitter handle.

    “During the searches, cash amounting to Rs. 15 Lakhs, gold jewellery weighing 1.978 Kgs. worth Rs. 1.13 Crore, sale deeds of certain properties, various incriminating documents and certain electronic devices were recovered which were duly seized,” it added.

  • ED Questions Rabri Devi For 5 Hrs In Land-for-jobs Linked Money Laundering Case

    ED Questions Rabri Devi For 5 Hrs In Land-for-jobs Linked Money Laundering Case

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi for about five hours and recorded her statement here on Thursday in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam, official sources said.

    She reached the office of the federal probe agency in central Delhi around 11 am and left around 6 pm. In between, she stepped out for about an hour for lunch.

    It was not immediately known if she had been summoned again.

    The sources said the statement of 68-year-old Rabri Devi, wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    Rabri Devi’s children, including Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, daughters Misa Bharti (RJD MP in Rajya Sabha), Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, have also been questioned by the agency in the case over the last few months.

    The ED had raided the premises of Chanda Yadav, Ragini Yadav, Hema Yadav, and former RJD MLA Abu Dojana in Patna, Phulwari Sharif, Delhi-NCR, Ranchi and Mumbai in March this year.

    The agency had claimed that it had seized “unaccounted cash” of Rs 1 crore and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore during the searches.

    The alleged scam pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government, and the money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

    It is alleged by the agencies that during the period 2004-09, various persons were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways, and in lieu, the persons concerned transferred their land to Prasad’s family members.

    It is alleged by the CBI in its complaint that no advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways located at Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.

    As a quid pro quo, the candidates, directly or through their immediate family members, allegedly sold land to the family members of Prasad at highly discounted rates, up to one-fourth to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates, the CBI had alleged.

    Tejashwi Yadav has denied these allegations in the past, saying that the then railway minister Prasad had “no powers” to give employment in exchange for favours.

  • ED Conducts Raids At Byju’s In Bengaluru In Alleged Foreign Funding Violation Case

    ED Conducts Raids At Byju’s In Bengaluru In Alleged Foreign Funding Violation Case

    The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday conducted searches at the premises of Byju Raveendran, CEO of Bengaluru-based ed-tech firm BYJU’s, for allegedly violating foreign funding laws, said NDTV report.

    It said two business and one residential premises in Bengaluru were searched by ED in connection with a case against Raveendran and his company ‘Think & Learn Private Limited’ under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

    The probe agency as per report said several incriminating documents and data were seized during the search.BYJU’s responded minutes after the probe agency’s revelation, claiming the searches were related to a “routine inquiry” under FEMA, mentioned the report.

    “We have been completely transparent with the authorities and have provided them with all the information they have requested. We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics,” the report quoted the company.

    “It is business as usual at BYJU’s,” the report quoted company as having said.

    “FEMA searches also revealed that the company has received foreign direct investment to the tune of ₹ 28,000 crore (approx) during the period from 2011 to 2023,” ED said, the report said.

    The company has also sent around Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign entities in the name of overseas direct investment during the same period, the report added.

    It said the action was taken on the basis of “various complaints” received by private people, and alleged that Raveendran Bjyu was issued “several” summons, but he remained “evasive and never appeared” before the ED, it said.

    “The company has not prepared its financial statements since the financial year 2020-21 and has not got the accounts audited, which is mandatory,” the report quoted ED statement.

    The company has booked around Rs 944 crore in the name of “Advertisement and Marketing expenses”, including the amount remitted to foreign jurisdictions, the probe agency said, as per the report.

    “Hence, the genuineness of the figures provided by the company are being cross-examined from the banks,” it added.

  • ED seizes Rs 360 crore from Chennai-based Chettinad group

    ED seizes Rs 360 crore from Chennai-based Chettinad group

    In operations against the Chettinad Group company and state public sector entity TANGEDCO, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) confiscated fixed deposits worth Rs 360 crore. The announcement of seizing the whopping amount came on Thursday. In addition to the fixed deposits worth Rs 360 crore found in the accounts of South India Corporation, the ED reported the seizure of other incriminating documents, including digital evidence and property papers.

    On April 24, ten locations were searched as part of a federal investigation into money laundering that was allegedly tied to “cheating of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) by claiming excessive payments for coal transportation from the Vishakhapatnam Port, which amounted to hundreds of crores,” reported The News Indian Express.

    An FIR from the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption is the basis for the ED case, which was filed in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act’s (PMLA) requirements. The “loss” to TANGEDCO, according to the ED, was committed between 2001 and 2019 with the help of state PSU officials.
    The Chettinad Group, TANGEDCO, a former director of TANGEDCO, several government officials, and key management people of SIC and Western Agencies Pvt.Ltd. were among the targets of searches by the ED at ten of their locations.
    Meanwhile, in December 2020, the Income Tax authorities conducted a check of the business and reported finding evidence of more than Rs 700 crore in tax evasion.

  • Tangedco case: ED raids TN govt officials, unearths Rs 360 cr

    Tangedco case: ED raids TN govt officials, unearths Rs 360 cr

    CHENNAI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has carried out searches at 10 locations in Chennai related to officials of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) and South India Corporation (SIC), a group company of the Chettinad Group. A sum of Rs 360 crore was also recovered during the raids, the ED said in a statement.

    The searches were conducted last Friday and locations included the premises of the former director (coal) of TANGEDCO, government officials, as well as the key management personnel of SIC and Western Agencies (Madras), it said. The investigation was initiated based on a first information report (FIR), registered by the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption, Chennai, against fraudulently cheating TANGEDCO, a PSU of the Tamil Nadu government, by claiming excessive payments amounting to hundreds of crores for coal transportation from the Visakhapatnam port.

    This loss to TANGEDCO occurred between 2001 and 2019, in connivance with TANGEDCO officials. The initial tender awarded for six months was extended for 19 years based on an injunction petition filed by one of the related parties, according to the statement from the agency. During the search, incriminating documents including digital evidence and property documents were seized. The search also led to the recovery of Rs 360 crore lying as fixed deposits in the accounts of South India Corporation, which have also been seized, it said.