Raj Singh Gehlot, promoter of the Ambience Group, was arrested on July 28, 2021, in connection with the money laundering case related to alleged bank loan fraud
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has attached fresh assets worth Rs 29.75 crore of fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi under the anti-money laundering law. A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these assets that are in the form of bank deposits, land, and buildings, it said in a statement. The agency, which has been probing Modi in the alleged USD 2 billion fraud against the Punjab National Bank for over five years now, has attached assets worth Rs 2,596 crore in India and abroad in the past. Modi, 53, is presently lodged in a UK jail and has lost his extradition plea to India in connection with this alleged bank loan fraud case, which is also being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, both prime accused in the case, along with others are being probed by the ED on money laundering charges for allegedly perpetrating fraud in connivance with bank officials and b
Special CBI Judge Jyot Kler, on September 4, issued notice to ED and sought reply on the bail application
The top court has upheld the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) while emphasising the need for careful judicial scrutiny to protect the rights of those accused
The attached properties, spanning 401.65 acres in Gurugram and Delhi, are linked to an ongoing investigation into fraudulent land acquisitions
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the bail plea of former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last year in connection with a money laundering case. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear Balaji's plea challenging the February 28 order of the Madras High Court dismissing his second bail petition in the case. The high court, while dismissing the bail petition, said that if he is let out on bail in a case of this nature, it will send a wrong signal and it will be against larger public interest. It said the petitioner has suffered incarceration for more than eight months and therefore, it will be more appropriate to direct the special court to dispose of the case within a time frame. "Accordingly, there shall be a direction to the Principal Special Court, Chennai, to dispose of the case within a period of three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order," it had ...
After 17 months, AAP leader Manish Sisodia was granted bail by the Supreme Court. What is the 'bail is the rule' principle and can Sisodia resume his post as deputy CM?
The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear on August 5 pleas filed by AAP leader Manish Sisodia, seeking bail in corruption and money-laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju told the bench that while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed its response on Sisodia's plea, it had not come on record. He said the counter affidavit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was ready and it would be filed soon. Raju also raised preliminary objections on Sisodia's pleas and said it was the second special leave petition challenging the same Delhi High Court order. "The same order can't be challenged twice," the law officer said. Sisodia had earlier moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's May 21 order dismissing his bail pleas. He had challenged in the high court a trial court's April 30 order rejecting his ba
Top court says 'power to arrest under PMLA can't be exercised as per whims of ED'
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday recorded the statement of two television actors here as part of a money laundering investigation linked to the operations of an "illegal" online forex trading platform that is alleged to have duped investors to the tune of Rs 500 crore, official sources said. The sources said actors Krystel Dsouza and Karan Wahi were called for questioning in order to elicit information about some payments being made for promotions of the app named OctaFx which also had a website -- www.octafx.com. The statements of the two have been recorded as the ED is investigating this case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. Another TV actor and model Nia Sharma has also been summoned, the sources said. It is understood that the agency wants to understand the operations of the platform and these actors may not be seen as wrongdoers or accused. The money laundering case of the ED stems from a Pune Police (Shivaji Nagar poli
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached fresh assets worth more than Rs 5 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against an Uttar Pradesh-based bike taxi aggregator and its promoters. A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued against the company, Hello Ride Limited, its directors, presidents, agents and others, the ED said in a statement. The attached properties, which include agricultural land and plots, are located in Prayagraj, Kanpur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The total value of these properties is Rs 5.35 crore, it said. The ED had earlier frozen properties worth Rs 2.38 crore in this case and the total attachment now stands at Rs 7.73 crore. The money laundering case stems from about three dozen FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police against the company and its promoters Abhay Kumar Kushwaha, Neelam Verma, Nikhil Kushwah, Rajesh Pandey, Shaqeel Ahmad, Ragini Gupta and others. Abhay Kushwaha alon
Case before the Supreme Court arose from a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision that denied pre-arrest bail to multiple accused in a money laundering case
The Supreme Court Thursday held that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cannot arrest an accused under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a special court has taken cognisance of the complaint of money laundering. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said when an accused appears before a court in pursuance of a summons, the agency will have to apply to the court concerned to get his custody. "If the accused appears before the special court by summons (issued by court), it cannot be treated that he is in custody," it said. "Accused who appeared before the court pursuant to the summons not required to apply for bail, and thus twin conditions of Section 45 of PMLA not applicable," the bench said in its judgment. The twin conditions state that when an accused in a money laundering case applies for bail, the court has to first allow the public prosecutor to be heard and only when it is satisfied that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commi
Kapoor was arrested in March 2020 in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He was booked in eight cases by ED and Central Bureau of Investigation related to fraud at Yes Bank
Invoices of a refrigerator and smart TV are among the evidence the Enforcement Directorate used to support its claim that Jharkhand's ex-chief minister Hemant Soren acquired 8.86 acres of land worth more than Rs 31 crore illegally. The federal probe agency obtained these receipts from two Ranchi-based dealers and attached those to its charge sheet filed against the 48-year-old Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and four others last month. The special PMLA court of Judge Rajiv Ranjan in Ranchi took cognisance of the prosecution complaint on April 4. Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 in a money laundering case related to the alleged land grab, shortly after he resigned as chief minister. He is currently in judicial custody in Birsa Munda jail at Hotwar in Ranchi. According to the ED, the two gadgets were purchased in the name of the family members of one Santosh Munda who told the agency that he has been "residing as a caretaker of the property of Hemant Soren on the said l
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on March 21 in the excise policy linked money laundering case, official sources said Sunday. The 55-year-old national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been asked to depose at the central agency's office in central Delhi. The ninth summons have been issued so that Kejriwal's statement can be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. The CM has repeatedly refused to appear in response to these summons, calling them illegal. A Delhi court on Saturday had granted bail to Kejriwal on two complaints filed by the agency against him for skipping six of the previous eight summons in this case. The agency arrested BRS leader K Kavitha in this case two days back.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached immovable assets worth Rs 367 crore in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and some cities in Odisha as part of a money-laundering probe linked to an alleged bank-loan fraud against Bhushan Steel Limited (BSL). A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the assets that were held "in the name of benamidars/shell entities through dummy directors so as to conceal them and to ensure that they are out of the reach of law enforcement agencies", the ED has said in a statement. After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), BSL was taken over by Tata Steel Limited in 2018. The ED has accused BSL, its managing director Neeraj Singal and associates of forming "several shell companies". "They rotated funds from one company to another through a chain of multiple entities. The funds were circulated to infuse capital, buy property and for other personal purposes not ...
Paytm Payments Bank failed to put in place an internal mechanism to "detect and report" suspicious transactions as stipulated under the anti-money laundering law and was unsuccessful in conducting due diligence of its payout service, the FIU said in its order that imposed a fine of Rs 5.49 crore on the digital entity. The federal financial intelligence gathering and dissemination agency said in its March 1 order that these charges against the bank, a registered reporting entity with the FIU under the PMLA, were "substantiated" after more than four years of investigation and a show cause notice that was issued against it on February 14, 2022. After the Union finance ministry issued a press statement on the FIU action, a Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson had said that the penalty pertains to issues within a business segment that was discontinued two years ago. "Following that period, we have enhanced our monitoring systems and reporting mechanisms to the Financial Intelligence Unit ...
After scrutiny of documents, FIU had issued a compliance Show Cause Notice to the bank for its violations of PML rules, including Know Your Customer
A special PMLA court on Thursday remanded former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president was in the ED custody. "Hemant Soren was produced before the special PMLA court today and he was remanded to judicial custody till February 22. We will file a bail application for him," said Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared for the former chief minister. Soren was taken to Birsa Munda Central Jail at Hotwar in Ranchi from the court. He was arrested on January 31 by the ED. On February 2, the court granted five days of ED custody to Soren and extended it twice for seven days in total.