A special PMLA court on Wednesday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand of former chief minister Hemant Soren by five days in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, lawyers said. Soren, JMM executive president, on February 2 was remanded to five days' ED custody by the special PMLA (The Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court which ended on Wednesday. "The ED had prayed for seven days of remand which we objected saying no further remand is required because he has already been interrogated for eight hours on January 20 and another eight hours on January 31," Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared for Soren, told reporters. Apart from that, he has already been interrogated for 120 hours in five days. "So, there is no need for any further remand. But they have tried to expand this scope of investigation beyond the predicate offence matter. We have been saying that they (ED) have no power and jurisdiction to investigate anything beyond the predicate
The agency, since 2022, has been probing a trail of Rs 100 crore of "proceeds of crime" generated from illegal mining operations in the state
The trial court last week allowed the plea moved by Hong Xuquan, Harinder Dahiya and Hemant Munjal to challenge their arrest and subsequent custody in a PMLA case and directed their immediate release
The ED had raided vivo-India and its linked persons in July last year and claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies
ED has named Robert Vadra in its earlier charge sheet related to the case as an alleged close aide of Thampi
Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the Mahadev online betting app, has been put under "house detention" in Dubai while Indian probe agencies, including ED, have been "alerted" and are working through diplomatic channels to get him deported, official sources said on Wednesday. The Enforcement Directorate may also file a fresh charge sheet in this multi-crore money laundering case soon, they said. The development comes weeks after Ravi Uppal, another promoter of the betting and gaming app, was detained by local authorities in Dubai on a red notice (RN) issued by Interpol at the behest of the ED. The sources said Chandrakar's location in Dubai has been intimated to the federal agency and he has been put under "house detention". Indian agencies are working, through diplomatic channels, to secure the deportation or extradition of the two who are vital to the money laundering and police investigation into the alleged illegal activities of the 'Mahadev Book Online' app that also
During the ED investigation, movable or immovable property worth Rs. 24.17 crore was provisionally attached
A special court here on Thursday granted bail to Yes Bank cofounder Rana Kapoor in a money-laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities at the bank. He, however, would not walk out of jail at present as he has not been granted bail in a related case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Kapoor, 65, former MD and CEO of the private bank, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in March 2020. Special judge for PMLA court M G Deshpande granted Kapoor bail on Thursday. The trial in the case cannot begin and conclude in view of the expectations and guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court (in a different case), therefore he was entitled to relief under section 436-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and deserves to be released on bail, the judge said. As per the section 436A, an under-trial prisoner has the right to seek bail on serving more than half of the maximum possible sentence prescribed for
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
Vivo India has reported profits at a time when the overall smartphone industry has seen a 10% decline in shipments
As per officials, the crackdown was taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) 2002
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
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
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
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
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
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 ..
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
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 .
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