Page 16 - Money Laundering Case

SC reserves verdict on pleas of Senthil Balaji, wife against his arrest

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on pleas of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the Madras High Court order upholding his arrest in a money laundering case. The arguments heard. Judgement reserved, a bench comprising justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh said after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the minister, concluded their submissions. Presenting its arguments, the anti-money laundering agency said it has the requisite power to arrest and interrogate the accused minister in its custody in order to collect evidence and ensure corroboration. On the other hand, Rohatgi, assisted by lawyer Amit Anand Tiwari, said ED has no vested right to interrogate an accused in custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Balaji, who continues to be a minister without portfolio in the Tamil Nadu government even after his arrest on Jun

Hero Moto falls 7% from day's high amid report of PMLA case against Munjal

According to reports, a case has been registered against Chairman Pawan Munjal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002

ED attaches assets in money laundering case against Lalu Prasad, family

The Enforcement Directorate has attached some assets as part of its money laundering investigation against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, his family and others in an alleged land-for-railway jobs scam, official sources said on Monday. The agency has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the properties, they said. The number of assets and their exact value was not known immediately. The ED has recorded the statement of Prasad's wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, their children including Bihar Deputy Chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, daughters Misa Bharti (RJD MP in Rajya Sabha), Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, over the last few months, in this case. The alleged scam pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government. It is alleged by the ED and the CBI that during the period 2004-09, various persons were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways, and in lieu, th

3,110 money laundering, 12K FEMA cases registered by ED in last 3 yrs: Govt

The Enforcement Directorate has registered 3,110 cases under the anti-money laundering law and over 12,000 complaints to probe alleged foreign exchange violations over the last three years, the government informed Parliament on Monday. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told Lok Sabha in a written reply that the ED has recorded cases on the basis of a "risk-based robust mechanism" under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA). The number of cases recorded under the PMLA in 2020-21 was 981, during 2021-22, it rose to 1,180 and there were 949 cases during 2022-23, he said in the reply. The total money laundering cases registered in these three years stand at 3,110. Similarly, the federal agency booked 2,747 cases under the FEMA during 2020-21; 5,313 during 2021-22; and 4,173 cases in 2022-23. So a total of 12,233 FEMA cases were registered by the ED in the last three years. He also gave t

ED raids Haryana Cong MLA Chhoker in money laundering case; seizes cars

Four luxury cars, jewellery worth Rs 14.5 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh in cash have been seized following raids against Haryana Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker and companies "owned and controlled" by him in a money laundering case linked to alleged cheating of homebuyers, the Enforcement Directorate said on Monday. The 59-year-old legislator from the Samalkha in Panipat district is stated to be the "owner and promoter" of the Mahira real estate group along with his sons Sikander Singh and Vikas Chhoker. The action under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act came after the ED launched searches against the legislator, Sai Aaina Farms Pvt Ltd (now Mahira Infratech Pvt Ltd), other companies of the Mahira Group and some others on July 25, it said in a statement. Eleven locations in Samalkha, Gurugram and Delhi were raided by the federal probe agency. The money laundering case stems from an FIR filed by the Gurugram Police against Sai Aaina Farms Pvt. Ltd. for "cheating a

ED conducts searches in Delhi Jal Board linked money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities and siphoning of funds of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), official sources said on Tuesday. The raids were carried out in the national capital on Monday at about 10 premises as part of the investigation being carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency has collected some documents and records, the sources said. The ED probe is stated to be based on a November, 2022 FIR of the Delhi government's anti-corruption branch (ACB) for alleged embezzlement of Rs 20 crore funds from the DJB.

Over 93% conviction rate in money laundering cases in 9 years: Govt

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reported a conviction rate of more than 93 per cent in money laundering cases over the last nine years, the government informed the Parliament on Monday. The federal agency also has a vacancy of over 25 per cent as of July 13, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. As per his statement, the ED has a sanctioned strength of 2,075 staffers and out of this it has 1,542 posts occupied at present. "During the last nine years, the trial has been completed in 31 PMLA cases which resulted in conviction of 54 accused in 29 cases. Thus, as on date, rate of conviction under PMLA is 93.54 per cent," the minister said while replying to a question on ED's conviction rate in money laundering cases during the last nine years. The ED was entrusted to enforce stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), enacted in 2002, from July 1, 2005. It also enforces the Foreign Exchange Management A

TN minister Balaji's plea in money laundering case to be heard on Friday

The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday the pleas of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the July 14 order of the Madras High Court by which it upheld his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the minister and his spouse, that the issue would become infructuous if not heard urgently. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the anti-money laundering probe agency, opposed the submissions of Sibal seeking urgent hearing, saying wrong facts have been narrated and the Chief Justice of the High Court is yet to refer the matter to a division bench for further proceedings. If the bench seeks to list it tomorrow then I have no problem, the law officer said. We will list if for hearing, the bench said. The minister and his wife have filed two separate .

ED summons Ponmudi, son to appear today evening in money laundering case

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his son who left the Enforcement Directorate office in the wee hours of Tuesday have been summoned to appear this evening in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining. After almost an overnight enquiry by the ED officials, both Ponmudi and his MP son Gautham Sigamani were allowed to go home at about 3.30 am today and asked to appear before the ED officials at 4 pm today for further enquiry, DMK spokesperson and advocate A Saravanan said. He claimed that the Minister cooperated well with the central agency and wondered the necessity to put a 72-year-old Minister to an overnight ordeal merely for obtaining a statement. Nothing would have happened if the ED officials had asked him to appear in the morning for obtain the statement," he said. The raids were held at the premises of Ponmudy and his son in state capital Chennai and in the minister's stronghold of Villupuram. The ruling DMK dubbed the act

CBI files additional charge sheet against 5 accused in Delhi excise case

The CBI has filed a supplementary charge sheet against five people in the Delhi excise policy scam case in which former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is also an accused, officials said on Thursday. This is the second supplementary charge sheet in the case, they said. The five named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the supplementary charge sheet, filed before a special court here, include director of Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd Rajesh Joshi and his employees Damodar Prasad Sharma and Prince Kumar, the officials said. The agency has also named the creative head of India Ahead News, Arvind Kumar Singh, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteer Chanpreet Singh Rayat, they said. They are all accused of diverting funds generated through the alleged scam for the Goa assembly election campaign of the AAP, the officials said. Rayat and Arvind Kumar Singh were arrested by the CBI in May, while Joshi was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and later granted bail by

ED arrests CBI's approver Dinesh Arora in excise policy laundering case

In a major arrest in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night took into its custody businessman Dinesh Arora, an accused who has been declared prosecution witness in the same case being probed by CBI. Arora was arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a long session of questioning. The agency is expected to produce him before a local court on Friday. Dinesh Arora has been questioned by the ED earlier too. But this time, he was evasive in his replies and was not cooperating with the agency following which he was arrested, sources said. The businessman was allegedly a close associate of Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who is also an accused in the excise policy case and has been arrested by the ED as well as the CBI. The ED, in a supplementary charge sheet, has accused Sisodia of receiving bribes from Amit Arora, another businessm

Ajit Pawar's associates acquired assets at low prices: Court on MSBC case

Assets of a sugar cooperative were acquired by close associates of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at throwaway prices, a special court here has said while taking cognisance of a chargesheet filed by the ED in a money laundering case pertaining to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB). Special Judge M G Deshpande in the order passed on Wednesday, after perusing the chargesheet, documents submitted along with it and witness statements, said it demonstrates a classic example of generation of proceeds of crime from criminal activity and it constitutes an offence under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Hence, there are cogent, sound and prima facie sufficient grounds to direct issuance of process (summons) against all the accused, the court said while directing all the accused to appear before it themselves or through their lawyer on July 19. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in April this year filed its chargesheet against three accused Guru ...

ED arrests ex chairman of Pune cooperative bank in loan fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has arrested the former chairman of a Pune-based cooperative bank on money laundering charges in a case linked to alleged fraud and misappropriation of funds of the lender worth Rs 429 crore. Amar Sadhuram Mulchandani, the ex-chairman of Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank, was arrested on July 1 and a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court sent him to ED custody till July 7, the federal probe agency said in a statement. "The arrest is made in connection with the ongoing investigation in the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank fraud case in which the bank suffered a loss of Rs 429 crore in 124 NPA (non performing assets) loan accounts." "This has caused the bank to go bankrupt causing loss to thousands of small depositors," the ED said. This is the fifth arrest by the agency in this case. The ED had earlier arrested a man named Sagar Suryawanshi, who took loans from the cooperative bank, two ED staffers working on contract at its ..

Excise policy: Delhi HC denies bail to Vijay Nair in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to grant bail to Aam Aadmi Party's communication in-charge Vijay Nair in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, noting that the statements of witnesses showed kickbacks claimed to have been paid by the potential beneficiaries were used in the Goa assembly elections. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, by separate orders, also dismissed the bail applications of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, businessman Abhishek Boinpally and liquor giant Pernod Ricard's executive Benoy Babu in the case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court said while personal liberty is a "sacrosanct right and pre-trial detention cannot be taken as a punitive measure", such right has to be balanced with the right of the society at large. The judge, in his 45-page order passed on the bail plea by Nair, observed that the allegations are "extremely serious in nature" and the alleged conspiracy in the present case was .

Excise policy scam: HC rejects Sisodia's bail plea in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who was arrested for his alleged role in the money laundering case relating to alleged irregularities in the city government's excise policy. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma refused to grant relief to Sisodia, saying he is not entitled to bail at this stage. Besides Sisodia, the high court also dismissed the bail pleas of businessmen Abhishek Boinpally, Benoy Babu and Vijay Nair, who are co-accused in the money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arising from the alleged scam. Sisodia, the former Delhi deputy chief minister and excise minister, was first arrested by the CBI on February 26 for his alleged role in the scam and has been in custody since then. The high court has already denied him bail in the CBI case on May 30. He was arrested on March 9 in the case lodged by the ED and is currently in judicial custody. The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2

ED arrests Supertech's Chairman R K Arora in money laundering case

Earlier in April, the ED provisionally attached 25 immovable properties, valued at Rs 40.39 crore, belonging to the Supertech Group of Companies and their Directors in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh

ED arrests 2 M3M directors in fresh money laundering case linked to bribery

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has arrested Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty group M3M, in a money laundering probe linked to an alleged bribery case against a former judge and others. The two were taken into custody by the federal investigation agency on Wednesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal were produced before a special PMLA court in Panchkula, which sent them to five-day ED custody, the agency said in a statement. The money laundering case in which the arrests have been made pertains to a Haryana Police Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) FIR filed in April against Sudhir Parmar, a former special judge for ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases who was posted in Panchkula, his nephew and a third M3M group director Roop Kumar Bansal. According to the FIR, the ED said, reliable information was received that Parmar was showing "favouritism" to the accused, namely

ED arrests two promoters of Gurugram-based M3M in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty group M3M, in a money laundering matter linked to an anti-corruption bureau case against a Panchkula-based former special court judge, official sources said Thursday. The two directors were taken into custody by the agency on Wednesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The money laundering case in which they have been arrested pertains to a Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB) FIR filed in April against the former special court judge, his nephew and a third M3M group director Roop Kumar Bansal. The judge, according to the ACB FIR, was alleged to have been showing favouritism in the ED and CBI cases against the M3M group directors and another real estate group called IREO. The judge was later suspended by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. All the people accused in the ACB case have denied wrongdoing. The ED, on June 1, carried out

Who is Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, arrested by ED on Wednesday?

Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji was arrested in the wee hours on Wednesday in an alleged money-laundering case related to a job-for-cash scam

ED arrests TN Minister Senthil Balaji under anti-money laundering act

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said. He was arrested after a long session of questioning, they said, even as the minister was admitted to a city government hospital after he complained of uneasiness. He is likely to produced before a special court later where the agency will seek his custody. The agency had launched multi-city searches in the state on Tuesday at the premises linked to the DMK's Karur strongman as part of the probe into money laundering. The action came months after the Supreme Court allowed a police and ED probe into an alleged cash for jobs scam against him. Earlier, he was hospitalised after he complained of uneasiness, DMK leaders said. State Minister P K Sekar Babu claimed there were 'symptoms' that Balaji has been 'tortured.' TV visuals showed Balaji being uneasy while being brought to the Government Medical College,