Coal blocks scam: ED attaches assets worth Rs 101 cr of Maharashtra firm

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached fresh assets worth Rs 101 crore of a Maharashtra-based firm in connection with its money laundering probe in the coal scam case, the agency said today.

It issued a provisional order for attachment of an office building worth Rs 80 crore at the integrated steel plant of Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited in the Siltara area of Raipur in Chhattisgarh and land worth Rs 21 crore in Bilaspur district.

The total value of the attached assets was Rs 101 crore, the agency said in a statement. It had attached assets worth Rs 206 crore of the firm last year.

The ED had booked a criminal case against the firm and others to probe money laundering charges, on the basis of an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged irregularities in the coal blocks allocation.

The CBI had earlier filed a chargesheet against the firm.

The ED said the company had obtained the Gare Palma-sub block IV/4 coal block in Chhattisgarh "through fraudulent means by making misrepresentation" and "resorted to illegal use of coal mined in their captive power plant (CPP) without any permission from the central government".

"As per the allocation letter, the company had to wash the coal in a washery to 20 per cent ash level and the middling/rejects produced during the process were to be used in its CPP.

"However, the coal was used directly in their sponge iron plant and CPP, without setting up a washery or without any approval for its use in the CPP directly," the agency alleged.

It added that the probe showed the company had "extracted 3.8 million tonnes of coal during 2006-2015 from the stated coal field".

The company had infused huge capital by issuing a large number of fresh shares for funding its ongoing expansion projects, including the integrated steel plant and those related to mine development, the ED said.

That share capital of Rs 101 crore, raised by the company after the allocation of the coal block, was related to the coal block illegally obtained and mined by the company, it alleged.

"Therefore, benefits to the extent of Rs 101 crore accrued to the company in the form of fresh share capital, attributable to the allocation of the said coal block, which has been obtained through criminal conspiracy, fraudulent means and misappropriation of natural resources," the ED statement read.

An attachment order issued by the agency under the PMLA is aimed at depriving the accused of taking benefits of their ill-gotten wealth and it is confirmed by the adjudicating authority of the PMLA within 180 days.