Page 87 - Enforcement Directorate

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Scholarships worth Rs 75 cr misappropriated by institutes in UP: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has found that some educational institutes in Uttar Pradesh allegedly misappropriated scholarship funds worth Rs 75 crore meant for economically weaker, minority category and differently-abled students. The federal probe agency carried out searches at 22 locations in six districts of Uttar Pradesh on February 16 in a money laundering case linked to "fraudulent" availment of post-matriculation scholarships by various educational institutions of the state. The money laundering case stems from a 2017 complaint of the state vigilance bureau. In a statement issued on Friday, the ED said that the institutions under its scanner include S S Institute of Management, Mampur, Lucknow; Hygia College of Pharmacy, Lucknow; Hygia Institute of Pharmacy/Central Institute of Pharmacy, Lucknow; Lucknow Institute of Management and Education, Lucknow; and Dr Om Prakash Gupta Institute of Management and Technology, Farrukhabad. Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Foundation and Jivika

Life Mission case: After 9-hour grilling session, ED makes headway

After a nine-hour grilling of Venugopal Iyer, a CA, a close aide of Sivasankar, the ED has reportedly made headway with the CA stating he had just followed the former top bureaucrat's instructions.

LIFE Mission scam case: ED arrests former principal secretary to Kerala CMO

The case pertains to the state government's LIFE Mission project, which intends to build houses for 140 families in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district through the LIFE Mission scheme

ED raids mobile app offices in different cities dealing in cryptocurrencies

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that they recently carried out search operations in Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana), Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Salem (Tamil Nadu).

Pinarayi Vijayan's former top official Sivasankar appears before ED

The once most powerful bureaucrat in the Pinarayi Vijayan government M.Sivasankar, who retired from service in January, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday

ED arrests YSR Congress MP's son in Delhi excise policy money laundering

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress Party MP from Ongole Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy case, officials said Saturday. Raghav Magunta was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday evening, they said. He is expected to be produced before a local court, where the federal probe agency will seek his custody. This is the ninth arrest in this case by the ED, and the third this week. It arrested Gautam Malhotra, son of former SAD MLA from Punjab Deep Malhotra, and Rajesh Joshi, the director of an advertising company called Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd, earlier in the week. The agency had alleged that a cartel called 'South Group' of liquor retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers was created as part of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, and the father and son duo were part of it. It had searched .

Delhi excise policy: Advertising firm director in ED custody till Feb 13

A court here on Thursday sent the director of an advertising company, who is alleged to have ran the AAP campaign during the 2022 Goa assembly polls, to ED's custody for interrogation in a Delhi excise policy-related money laundering case. Rajesh Joshi, the director of Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd, was produced before Special Judge M K Nagpal, who sent him for custodial interrogation till February 13. He was arrested by the ED on Wednesday. The agency sought his ten days' custody, saying he was required to be confronted with other accused in the case to unearth the larger conspiracy. It said the links of the advertising company promoter with regard to alleged diversion of "kickbacks" for the Goa assembly polls in 2022 are under the scanner of the agency. The ED alleged in a chargesheet submitted to the court that a part of the alleged Rs 100 crore "kickbacks" generated in the scrapped Delhi excise policy were "used" in the 2022 Goa assembly election campaign of the Arvind ...

ED seizes Rs 1.4 crore cash from Kolkata firm involved in coal smuggling

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has seized Rs 1.4 crore in cash from the premise of a Kolkata-based company and has identified a person who was "handling illegal cash of a minister" allegedly generated from coal smuggling. The federal probe agency issued a statement saying it raided the premises of the Gajraj Group at Earle Street in West Bengal's capital Kolkata on Wednesday. The action, the ED said, was undertaken on the basis of a "specific" intelligence input that a "highly influential political person" was making an attempt to launder the proceeds of crime originating from coal smuggling through his "close confidant" Manjit Singh Grewal alias Jitti Bhai. The seized cash of Rs 1.4 crore was "unaccounted", part of the total cash payment of approximately Rs 9 crore, for a property called Salasar guest house at an "under-valued" price, it said. "The market value of this property is more than Rs 12 crore. However, deed value of the same is shown around Rs 3 ...

Coal scam: ED recovers Rs 1 cr from businessman's office in Kolkata

ED sleuths, probing coal-smuggling case in WB, recovered Rs 1 crore from the office of a Kolkata-based businessman after a marathon raid and search operation at his residence and office on Wednesday

ED arrests businessman Gautam Malhotra in Delhi excise policy scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested businessman Gautam Malhotra in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam.

Teachers' scam: ED identifies lottery angle for conversion of money

Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal has reportedly procured some vital clues that hint towards the arrested youth TMC leader, Kuntal Ghosh.

ED attaches Rs 859 cr proceeds of crime in illegal loan app cases: Centre

The Directorate of Enforcement has attached proceeds of crime worth Rs 859.15 crore generated by accused persons/entities through illegal loan apps, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said on Tuesday. Further, assets amounting to Rs 289.28 crore have been seized under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. In a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha, Karad said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has furnished the list of Digital Lending Apps (DLAs) being used by regulated entities of RBI to the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). MeitY has shared the list with respective intermediary (App Stores) and requested them to ensure that only the apps figuring in the list are hosted on their app stores. The RBI's digital lending guidelines issued in September advises measures, including due diligence of Loan Service Providers (LSPs), direct disbursal of loan from bank account of lender to bank account of the borrower without any pass-through/pool or ...

ED attaches Rs 936 cr as proceeds of crime, arrests 5 for crypto fraud

The enforcement directorate has attached Rs 936 crore proceeds of crime and arrested 5 five persons related to crypto currency fraud, Parliament was informed on Monday. Further, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), assets amounting to Rs 289.28 crore have been seized and one show cause notice to cryptocurrency exchange Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd, known as WazirX, and its directors has been issued for transactions involving cryptocurrencies worth Rs 2,790 crore. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Enforcement Directorate is investigating several cases related to cryptocurrency frauds wherein a few crypto exchanges have also been found involved in money laundering. "As on January 31, 2023, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 936 crore have been attached/seized/freezed, 5 persons have been arrested and 6 prosecution complaints (PCs) including 1 supplementary PC have been filed before the Special Court, PML

Saradha case: ED attaches assets of P Chidambaram's wife, ex-CPM MLA

The ED on Friday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 6 crore of "beneficiaries" such as Nalini Chidambaram, wife of Congress leader P Chidambaram, former CPM MLA Debendranath Biswas and a company "owned" by former Assam minister, the late Anjan Dutta, in the Saradha money laundering case. A provisional order for attaching movable properties worth Rs 3.3 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 3 crore has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal agency said in a statement. These properties were owned by the Saradha Group and other people, who were beneficiaries of "proceeds of crime" generated by the group, it said. The ED said the "beneficiaries" include Nalini Chidambaram, Debabrata Sarkar (an official of the East Bengal Club), Debendranath Biswas (a former IPS officer and ex-CPM MLA) and Anubhuti Printers and Publications "owned" by Dutta, who was a president of the Congress' Assam unit. Nalini Chidambaram's role in the case was allegedl

Chhattisgarh coal scam: ED attaches more assets worth Rs 17.48 cr

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said that it has attached 51 immovable properties worth Rs 17.48 crore in the illegal coal levy extortion scam in Chhattisgarh

ED's power confined to probe money laundering offence, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has held that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has the power to investigate and inquire into an offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) only and it cannot assume that a predicate offence has been committed. The high court said the predicate offence has to be necessarily investigated and tried by the authorities empowered by law in that regard and the ED cannot possibly arrogate unto itself the power to investigate into the alleged commission of those offences. What needs to be emphasised is that the PMLA empowers the ED to investigate Section 3 offences only. Its power to investigate and enquire stands confined to the offence of money laundering as defined in that section. However, the same cannot be read as enabling it to assume from the material, that it may gather in the course of that investigation, that a predicate offence stands committed. "The predicate offence has to be necessarily investigated and tried by the ...

Enforcement Directorate can only probe money laundering cases: Delhi HC

The court ruled that the primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes specified as scheduled offences under the PMLA belongs to the authorities established by those separate acts

ED case against Rana Ayyub: SC asks Ghaziabad court to adjourn proceedings

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked a special court in Ghaziabad, which has summoned journalist Rana Ayyub in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to adjourn the proceedings scheduled for January 27 to a date after January 31. The apex court said it will hear on January 31 the petition of Ayyub challenging the summons issued to her by the special court. A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and V Ramasubramanian was informed by advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Ayyub, that the petitioner has been summoned by the Ghaziabad court on January 27. "List on January 31. In the meantime, the Ghaziabad special court is requested to adjourn the proceedings...fixed for January 27 to a date after January 31," the bench said. The top court said this order is being passed because the hearing could not be concluded before it on Wednesday due to paucity of time and it is not a reflection on the merits of the matter. At the outset, the bench asked why the petition

Excise policy 'scam': ED attaches Rs 76.54 cr worth assets under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached houses located in upscale localities of Delhi and Mumbai, restaurants, 50 vehicles and bank deposits worth Rs 76.54 crore in a money laundering case probe linked to the Delhi excise policy 'scam'. The properties belong to arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communications in-charge Vijay Nair, liquor businessman Sameer Mahandru, his wife and company Indospirit Group, businessman Dinesh Arora, Arun Pillai, Amit Arora, director of liquor company Buddy Retail Pvt Limited, and others, the agency said in a statement. An order for the provisional attachment of the assets has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The money laundering stems from a CBI FIR. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other excise officials of the government were named as accused in the CBI and the ED complaints. In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that Sisodia and other accused public servants recommended and took decisions pertaini