ED attaches properties worth Rs 1489 crore in Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached properties total worth Rs 1,489 crore in connection with a case of embezzlement of public deposits by Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (ACCSL).

In a statement, the ED said, "The attached properties include land and building valued at Rs 1,464.76 crore and fixed deposits/balance in various bank accounts valuing Rs 24.44 crore approximately belonging to Adarsh Group of Mukesh Modi, Virendra Modi and family, and Riddhi Siddhi Group of Mahendra Tak, Saurabh Tak and properties of other accused."

The ED attached the immovable and movable properties situated in Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

The statement said, "The ED had initiated investigation under the provisions of PMLA on the basis of an FIR on December 28, 2018 registered under Section 420, 406, 409, 467, 468, 471, 477-A and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Special Operation Group, Rajasthan Police for the offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery of valuable security and criminal conspiracy against Mukesh Modi, Rahul Modi and others of Adarsh Group, officials of ACCSL and other private persons."

"The investigations conducted so far under PMLA revealed that Mukesh Modi, in collusion with his relatives Virendra Modi, Rahul Modi and other associates, siphoned off depositors' funds from ACCSL by way of interlinked fraudulent transactions," the statement said.

The statement further said, "Mukesh Modi, his relatives and associates incorporated several companies/firms/Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) for the sole purpose of diverting funds from ACCSL to their Real Estate business by way of availing fraudulent loans. Apart from the above, he infused huge Proceeds of Crime in these companies as share capital from ACCSL."

"Investigation also revealed that huge amounts were diverted and siphoned off by means of exaggerated salaries, incentives and commissions to the relatives and companies/firms of Mukesh Modi family," it said.

"The actions of Mukesh Modi and others caused ACCSL huge loss to the tune of around Rs 4,000 crore excluding interest charged by ACCSL on purported borrowings. Thus proceeds of crime were generated as a result of criminal activity relating to scheduled offences and accordingly Provisional Attachment Order has been issued under PMLA attaching above mentioned assets totaling to Rs. 1489 crores," it added.

The ED said the further investigation, in this case, is under progress.