Page 5 - Pmla Case

Vivo case: Delhi court takes cognisance of ED's chargesheet in PMLA probe

A Delhi court on Wednesday took cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo-India and others in a money laundering case. Four individuals -- the MD of Lava International mobile company, Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik - have been named as accused in the prosecution complaint (ED's equivalent of a chargesheet). Special Judge Kiran Gupta summoned the accused, who are in judicial custody, on February 19. The chargesheet was filed earlier this month under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED claimed the alleged activities of the four accused enabled Vivo-India to make wrongful gains that were detrimental to the economic sovereignty of the country. The anti-money laundering agency had raided Vivo-India and persons linked to it in July last year and claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chi

Smartphone maker Vivo India reports net profit of Rs 211 crore in FY23

Vivo India has reported profits at a time when the overall smartphone industry has seen a 10% decline in shipments

ED attaches immovable properties worth over Rs 200 cr across Tamil Nadu

As per officials, the crackdown was taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) 2002

ED attaches Madurai firm's assets worth Rs 207 cr in money laundering probe

The Enforcement Directorate on Sunday said it has attached immovable properties worth Rs 207 crore located in Tamil Nadu as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged fraud perpetrated by a Madurai-based group. The ED investigation stems from an FIR registered by Tamil Nadu Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The police FIR was registered following complaints lodged by investors against Neomax Properties Pvt. Ltd. and its group companies that allegedly "cheated several investors into depositing lakhs of money in various projects (plot development) by promising high returns with 12-30 per cent interest", the ED said in a statement. The company and its promoters "failed" to fulfil their promise, it claimed. Neomax group of companies collected funds from the public running into hundreds of crores and cheated them by "diverting" these funds to shell entities, group companies and other entities (outside the group), the ED said. The group "manipulated" its books of account

Vivo case: Notice to Tihar officials on Lava MD's plea against jail shift

ED recently arrested Chinese national Guangwen Kuang, Lava International's MD Hariom Rai Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik under a different section of the Money Laundering Act

Mahadev app case: Actor Sahil Khan, 3 others summoned for questioning today

In the Mahadev betting app case, there are allegations of fraud of 15,000 crore rupees along with match-fixing, illegal hawala, and cryptocurrency transactions

ED summons Karti Chidambaram in PMLA probe; MP calls it 'most bogus' case

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has not deposed before the ED for questioning in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 and dubbed the case "most bogus". The 52-year-old legislator from the Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu was summoned by the central agency to appear this week at its office here and record his statement in the case being probed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The MP is understood to have informed the ED that he was occupied with the ongoing Parliament session. The 2022 ED case pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR. The money laundering case stems from the CBI complaint. Karti told PTI that the case was "most bogus

Vivo PMLA case: Court to decide on taking cognisance of charge sheet on Wed

A Delhi court will consider on December 13 whether to take cognisance of the charge sheet filed against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo-India and others in a money laundering case. The charge sheet was filed under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act before Special Judge Kiran Gupta, who on Thursday posted the matter for consideration on December 13. According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Vivo-India of cheating the Union government through an an intricate network it had set up in the country. Four individuals -- the MD of Lava International mobile company, Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik - have been named as accused the prosecution complaint (ED's equivalent of a charge sheet). All the accused are currently in judicial custody. Advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for Rai before the court on Thursday, termed the case as frivolous and said there was no eviden

ED registers money laundering case in connection with oxygen plant fraud

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case of money laundering concerning the alleged fraud in setting up oxygen plants in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, police said on Saturday. The police's economic offences wing (EOW) had on November 24 arrested contractor Romil Chheda of M/s Highway Construction Company for allegedly causing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) a loss of Rs 6 crore, an official said. The ED on Friday registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the fraud, he said. Chheda was awarded a contract to set up oxygen plants in nine BMC-run hospitals and two jumbo COVID-19 centres despite allegedly not having prior experience in executing such work, he said. According to the EOW, the fraud took place between April 2021 and January 2022 at the municipal workshop in Byculla and the oxygen plants on the premises of civic-run hospitals V N Desai, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, GTB, Kasturba, BYL Nair, R N ..

ED files fresh chargesheet against Sanjay Bhandari in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a fresh charge sheet against alleged middleman and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, currently based in the UK, and others as part of a money laundering investigation against them, official sources said. The supplementary prosecution complaint has been filed in a local court and under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. The agency has named Bhandari, his relative S Chadha and NRI businessman C C Thampi in the charge sheet, the sources said. The court is expected to take cognisance of this complaint later this week. The first charge sheet against Bhandari was filed by the ED in 2020. Bhandari is stated by the ED to have "absconded" to the UK in 2016 and he has been declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court in the money laundering case linked to possession of alleged undisclosed assets abroad. The UK government approved Bhandari's extradition to India in January this year, acting o

Vivo PMLA case: Delhi court seeks ED's response on Lava MD's bail plea

A court here on Saturday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate on an application filed by the MD of Lava International Company seeking bail in a money-laundering case against Chinese phone-maker Vivo. Special Judge Tarun Yogesh issued a notice to the ED on the application filed by Hari Om Rai and directed the central probe agency to file its reply by November 29, when the court will further hear the matter. The court passed the direction after hearing arguments from Advocate Nitesh Rana, who, appearing for the accused, claimed that since Rai was not required for further custodial interrogation, no purpose will be served by keeping him in custody. "Accused has no role in money laundering and in the schedule offence. He is just an entrepreneur," Rana told the judge. Rai was arrested last month with a few others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED has alleged that Vivo "illegally" transferred Rs 62,476 crore to China in order to avoid .

ED issues fresh summons to millionaire Singham in NewsClick PMLA case

A fresh summons was issued by the Enforcement Directorate to China-based American millionaire Neville Roy Singham for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe linked to online news portal NewsClick, officials said on Thursday. The 69-year-old businessman, who is accused of spreading Chinese propaganda in India, is stated to be currently based in Shanghai. The summons were sent to Singham recently on his personal email ID and also through the Chinese diplomatic channels after the ED routed them through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the officials said. This is understood to be the second summons issued to Singham by the ED. The first was issued last year after the federal agency launched its investigation in 2021. The request has been sent under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed between India and China in 2003. Under this agreement, both countries shall promote cooperation for exchange of information on legal matters and cooperation in other le

ED attaches Rs 24.95 cr worth properties of Hero MotoCorp's Pawan Munjal

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 24.95 crore of Hero MotoCorp executive chairperson Pawan Kant Munjal as part of a money laundering investigation against him. Three immovable properties of Munjal located in Delhi have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the central agency said in a statement. Munjal, it said, is the CMD and Chairman of Hero MotoCorp Ltd and the assets are worth about Rs 24.95 crore. The ED had carried out raids against Munjal and his companies in August after filing a PMLA case against him that was filed after taking cognisance of a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) charge sheet that accused him of taking foreign exchange/currency out of India illegally. "The prosecution complaint alleges that foreign currency/foreign exchange equivalent to Rs 54 crore was illegally taken out of India," the ED said.

Vivo PMLA case: Court extends judicial custody of 4 accused till Nov 23

A court here on Thursday extended the judicial custody of four accused, including the managing director of Lava International mobile company and a Chinese national, till November 23 in a money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala passed the order on an application moved the Enforcement Directorate. The four arrested are: Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik. Defence advocate Nitesh Rana opposed the ED's application for extension of their judicial custody, saying it cannot be done "mechanically and automatically. There must be application of mind," Rana told the court. The anti-money laundering agency had raided the company and people linked to it in July last year and claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies. The ED had then alleged a whopp

PMLA case: We will go into 'legal issues' only, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, which has decided to examine whether its 2022 judgement upholding the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) powers to arrest and attach property involved in money laundering under PMLA required any reconsideration, said on Friday it will deal only with the "legal issues" and not go into individual matters. The three-judge special bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said this while hearing an interlocutory application filed by a man who has been summoned by the ED in a money laundering case related to alleged extortion of illegal levy on coal transportation and production of steel and iron pellets etc. "When the matter was taken up (on October 18), we had said we will go into the legal issues only and not individual issues," Justice Kaul said. The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi, said "We are dealing with larger issue which is apparent from the order passed on October 18. It is not possible for the special bench to deal with all ...

ED power to issue summons under Section 50 PMLA does not include arrest

To be sure, the power to arrest is conspicuously absent in Section 50 of the PMLA, said Delhi High Court

Vivo PMLA case: Court sends Lava MD, Chinese national to judicial custody

A court here on Wednesday sent Lava International MD Hari Om Rai and Chinese national Guangwen Kuang to judicial custody till October 30 in a money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala, however, extended by two days the custodial interrogation of co-accused Nitin Garg. The court passed the order on an application moved by the Enforcement Directorate. The three accused were produced before the court on completion of their ED custody granted earlier. They were arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The smartphone company has denied the allegations. Vivo has constantly denied the allegations. We will pursue necessary and appropriate legal recourse, a company representative said in a statement. The ED had raided the Chinese company and individuals linked to it in July last year, claiming to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Ind

Making AAP accused in Delhi excise policy case not political vendetta: BJP

"The AAP altered the structure of the liquor policy to facilitate 'corruption'. If the party had not engaged in 'theft,' why would the investigative agencies be pursuing it?" he pointed out

Vivo PMLA case: Delhi court extends ED custody of accused by two days

A court here on Monday extended by two days the ED custody of three people, including Lava International MD Hari Om Rai, arrested in a money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala extended the custody of Lava mobile company's managing director Rai, Nitin Garg and Chinese national Guangwen Kuang till October 18, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was able to make out the case for grant of further custody remand. The accused were produced before the court on completion of their ED custody granted earlier. There appears to be continuity in the stand taken by Enforcement Directorate with regard to extraction of digital data and the accused persons to be confronted with the same. Therefore, considering the settled principles of law and Delhi High Court Rules, I am of the considered opinion that the Enforcement Directorate is able to make out the case for grant of further custody remand, the judge said. The court direc

ED attaches assets over Rs 57 cr in Karuvannur bank money laundering case

A total of 117 immovable properties located in three southern states, deposits in 92 banks and vehicles worth over Rs 57 crore have been attached in a money laundering probe linked to the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank of Kerala, the ED said on Friday. The Enforcement Directorate issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the assets. The total value of these properties is Rs 57.75 crore. The attached assets include 117 immovable properties consisting of land and buildings in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; movable properties including 11 vehicles, fixed deposits and credit balances in 92 bank accounts of individuals found actively involved in the offence of money laundering, the federal agency said in a statement. The probe found loans were "illegally" sanctioned and disbursed to these persons and their benamis from the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank Ltd. in cash without sufficient collateral as part of a systematic conspirac