ED questions lawyer Rohit Tandon in Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday questioned Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon who allegedly converted over Rs 2 crore of demonetised money into new currency notes with the help of hawala trader Paras Mal Lodha, who was arrested on Wednesday.

The ED officials summoned Tandon earlier in the day for questioning him in the case at its office here.

The agency's move came a day after a court here asked why the ED officials did not yet arrest Tandon even though they arrested Kolkata-based businessman Lodha, who allegedly helped the lawyer to convert his Rs 2.6 crore in old notes into new currency.

Sources said that the ED officials recorded Tandon's statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and questioned him on the basis of documents seized by the agency against him.

Cash amounting to Rs 13.65 crore, including Rs 2.6 crore in new currency notes, was seized from Tandon's office in Greater Kailash-I area of south Delhi during a raid conducted by Delhi Police on December 10.

Tandon's T&T law firm and residence, before this operation, was separately searched by the Income Tax department which said that he had declared undisclosed income worth over Rs 125 crore.

D sources indicated that Tandon will soon confronted with Lodha, 62, whom the agency arrested in this case on Wednesday evening - hours after he was caught at Mumbai airport while trying to flee to Malaysia.

The ED officials arrested Lodha, a leading businessman with interests in real estate and mining, for converting over Rs 25 crore demonetised notes linked to Tandon and industrialist J. Sekhar Reddy into new currency. A city court later sent Lodha to seven-day ED custody.

The agency has sent two phones, allegedly seized from Lodha, for forensic examination as it contained details of some WhatsApp conversations between him and Tandon.

The Reddy case pertains to Chennai where the Income Tax department has made the biggest detection of unaccounted income of over Rs 142 crore.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Reddy, a former Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam Board Member, and two others from Chennai for money laundering after Income Tax (IT) department recently seized 177 kg of gold, Rs 96 crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 34 crore in new currency from their premises.

Sources said that Reddy had executed a lot of work for the Tamil Nadu government,

ED officials earlier on December 1 raided multiple hawala operators across the country involved in illegal conversion of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to valid legal tender since November 8 demonetisation announcement.

--IANS

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