Page 92 - Enforcement Directorate

ED attaches properties worth Rs 10.12 crore of gangster Vikas Dubey

The ED had lodged a PMLA case against Vikas Dubey, his family and aides on September 14, 2020

Chitra Ramkrishna mastermind behind conspiracy, ED tells Delhi High Court

The ED on Tuesday opposed in the Delhi High Court the bail plea of former MD of National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees, saying she was the mastermind behind the criminal conspiracy in the matter. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told Justice Jasmeet Singh that the proposal for call interception and monitoring, which was in the guise of study of cyber vulnerability, was processed through Ramkrishna who was the deputy managing director at the relevant time, and that she identified the telephone numbers and the employees for monitoring. It said that all the approvals were either processed through her or given by her and that the illegal interception was co-terminus with her tenure at NSE. She represented NSE at an initial meeting for the award of the contract. The telephone numbers and the employees who were identified for monitoring were identified by her. "We have statements of multiple people w

Sebi bans Mehul Choksi from securities market for 10 years, fines Rs 5 cr

Choksi is already facing Income Tax department and ED action

Kerala gold smuggling case: CM's ex-secy misusing state machinery, says ED

The Enforcement Directorate has told the Supreme Court that M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and accused of gold smuggling, has been influencing other accused and using state machinery to fabricate false cases against it and the investigating officer. The Kerala government machinery turned against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after Sivasankar's role was detected in the smuggling case and false cases were registered against directorate officials to derail probe and trial, the agency alleged. "Even though a letter was sent by the CM (chief minister) of Kerala to the PM (prime minister), when the investigation progressed and the role of his own then principal secretary was detected, the state machinery turned against the ED and registered false cases by influencing the accused and making efforts to derail the investigation and trial," it said. The ED filed its response in reply to the counter affidavit filed by Indian Administrative

Cattle smuggling: ED summons arrested TMC leader's daughter, CA to Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned the daughter of arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, and his chartered accountant to its Delhi office on November 2 for their questioning in connection with the agency's probe into cattle smuggling in Bengal. The two might be questioned together by ED detectives, an agency official said on Friday. "We have asked Anubrata Mondal's daughter Sukanya Mondal and his CA Manish Kothari to appear at our New Delhi office next Wednesday. We have plans to question them together," he said. Sukanya Mondal, who owns two firms, will be asked about the "huge wealth that she amassed in a short time", the official said. "Kothari has been told to bring with him all documents related to Anubrata Mondal's properties, his income and savings in different bank accounts," the ED official stated. According to sources in the ED, Sukanya Mondal was earlier, too, sent summons for appearance at the Delhi office on October 27, but she skipped the session. Her lawye

Three Indian crypto exchanges under lens for Rs 28,000 crore drug trade

Around 200 transactions conducted in Nigeria, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, have been zeroed upon by the FIU, these were routed through exchanges located in India

Extortion case: Jacqueline Fernandez deleted evidence from phone, says ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez had deleted evidence from her cell phone, and also tried to leave the country

Chinese loan app case: ED seizes Rs 78 cr after searches at 5 places

The ED said it has recently carried out search operations at five places in Bengaluru, in connection with its investigation related to the Chinese loan app case

Delhi court to hear actor Jacqueline's bail plea in PMLA case on Oct 22

A Delhi Court is scheduled to hear on Saturday the regular bail plea of Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez in connection with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case

Chinese loan apps: ED freezes fresh deposits worth Rs 78 cr after raids

The ED on Friday said it has frozen fresh deposits worth Rs 78 crore following raids at the premises of payment gateway Razorpay and some banks as part of an ongoing money laundering probe against the alleged illegal operations of loan apps "controlled" by Chinese nationals. The searches were carried out at five premises in Bengaluru on October 19, the Enforcement Directorate said. The money laundering case stems from 18 FIRs filed by the cyber crime police station of Bengaluru police against numerous entities/persons for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small amounts of loans through the mobile apps being run by them. "These entities are controlled/operated by Chinese nationals. The modus operandi of these entities is to use forged documents of Indians and make them dummy directors and generate proceeds of crime. "It has come to notice that the said entities were doing their suspected/illegal business through various merchant IDs/accounts

ED attaches 7 properties of gangster-turned-politician Ansari in PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached seven immovable assets of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari as part of a money laundering investigation against him and his family. The properties, provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), are worth Rs 1.48 crore (registry value) while their circle rate at the time of registration was Rs 3.42 crore, the federal agency said in a statement. Ansari, a five-time former MLA, is currently lodged in a jail at Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The 59-year-old was questioned by the ED in this case last year. The agency in August had also raided the official residence of his elder brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari in Delhi and some locations in the Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Shardeum raises $18 mn in seed round from a clutch of 60 investors

WazirX founder Nischal Shetty, also co-founder Shardeum, says crypto world needs to work with regulatory bodies

Less than 1% of illegal money gets recovered by agencies: Interpol

On a global level, the most significant rise was seen in organised crime which was prevalent in both, the digital as well as the physical world

ED 'completely independent'; not used for vindictive purpose: Sitharaman

The Enforcement Directorate is "completely independent" in what it does, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, refuting allegations that it is being used by the government for political or vindictive purposes. Speaking at a news conference on Saturday towards the end of her trip to Washington where she attended the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Sitharaman denied causing any kind of fear in the corporate sector and the civil societies through two of its wingsthe Income Tax and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Well, the ED is completely independent in what it does and it is an agency which follows on predicate offences. The first offence is already picked up by any other agency, whether it is a Central Bureau of Investigation or any other agency, and it is post that the ED comes into the picture, Sitharaman said. She dismissed fears that there is any malafide intent of using such institutions to go after sections of private capital and

IREO group money laundering case: ED attaches assets worth over Rs 1,300 cr

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth more than Rs 1,317 crore of real estate group IREO, its managing director and vice president Lalit Goyal and associated entities as part of a money laundering investigation. The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. The ED took cognisance of at least 30 FIRs filed in various police stations located in Gurugram, Panchkula, Ludhiana and Delhi against the group, linked entities, its directors, key managerial persons and others, to file a money laundering case. The probe found, the agency said, that the accused allegedly "duped" innocent buyers by promising them to deliver flats, plots, commercial spaces etc.However, they neither delivered the projects nor returned their money. The directors of the company in connivance with others "siphoned off" mo

Delhi Excise policy case: ED raids 25 new locations in national capital

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided at least 25 locations in the national capital as part of its ongoing money laundering investigation into the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy, officials said. The premises covered under the search operation belong to private entities linked to liquor dealership and distributorship, they said. The federal agency has conducted multiple raids in this case till now and had also arrested Sameer Mahandru, a liquor businessman and managing director of liquor manufacturing company Indospirit, last month in the case. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR that had named Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as an accused among others. The scheme came under the scanner after the Delhi LG recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi's Excise Policy 2021-22. He had also suspended 11 excise officials in the matter.

ED files chargesheet against journalist Rana Ayyub in money laundering case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against journalist Rana Ayyub under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in Special Court, Ghaziabad on Wednesday.ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered on September 7, 2021 by the Indirapuram police station, Ghaziabad, UP, under various sections of IPC 1860, Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 and Black Money Act against Rana Ayyub alleging that she illegally acquired funds from the general public in the name of charity by launching fund-raiser campaigns on an online crowdfunding platform-'Ketto'.It was also alleged that Rana Ayyub is a journalist by profession and received foreign contributions without registration under FCRA. ED investigation revealed that Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser campaigns on 'Ketto platform' starting from April 2020, and collected funds totalling to Rs 2.70 crore. She collected funds in the name of helping slum dwellers and farmers, relief

ED chargesheets against Rana Ayyub; says she used public funds for herself

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a charge sheet against journalist Rana Ayyub under the anti-money laundering law, alleging that she utilised publicly raised funds of Rs 2.69 crore for herself and also contravened the foreign contribution law. The federal agency filed its prosecution complaint against Ayyub before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) on October 12. "Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser charity campaigns on 'Ketto platform' starting from April, 2020 and collected funds totalling Rs 2,69,44,680," the ED said in a statement issued on Thursday. The campaigns, it said, were meant to raise funds for slum dwellers and farmers; relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra and help Ayyub and her team to help those impacted by COVID-19 in India. Probe found, the agency said, that the funds raised on the online platforms were received in the accounts of Ayyub's father and sister and subsequently transferred to her persona

ED arrests IAS officer, 2 others in money laundering case in Chhattisgarh

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and two other people after it conducted raids in a money laundering case in Chhattisgarh, officials said. Businessman Sunil Agrawal of Indramani group and Laxmikant Tiwari, uncle of "absconding" businessman Suryakant Tiwari, have been taken into custody in the morning by the federal agency from state capital Raipur, they said. The three people have been arrested under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced before a local court, where the ED will seek their further custody. Vishnoi, CEO of the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, was questioned by the agency in Raipur on Wednesday. The arrests came after the agency launched multiple raids in Chhattisgarh on October 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal levy extorted from transporters in the state by a purported nexus of government officials, businessmen and private entities. The agency h

ED arrests TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in primary teachers' recruitment scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the early hours of Tuesday after night-long questioning in connection with the irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers, officials said. Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation, they said. "Mr Bhattacharya has been arrested for his continued non-cooperating with the investigators during questioning, which began on Monday afternoon. He also tried to misdirect the investigators," an ED officer told PTI. He is the MLA of Palashipara in Nadia district. Earlier, the Supreme Court granted Bhattacharya "protection" from being arrested by the CBI, which is also investigating the case. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam, while the CBI is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment. It is alleged that several people who fared poorly in the recruitment examinations