From large tract of lands, residential premises and commercial properties, to bank accounts, overseas assets valued close to ₹16,000 crore across 16 foreign jurisdictions have been attached or frozen in the recent past by the Enforcement Directorate in more than 30 cases involving major business houses and prominent persons, including the founder and former chairman of Indian Premier League Lalit Modi, and the uncle-nephew duo Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
These properties are located in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan, France, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Bermuda, archipelagic Comoros, and self-governing British Crown dependency Isle of Man.
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“In the cases where Proceeds of Crime (PoC) are tracked down to any other country, the ED may issue attachment/freezing/confiscation orders. For the service or execution of such orders, Chapter IX of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provides for the mechanism to seek assistance from a contracting state where the PoC has been parked,” said a senior agency official, adding that a Letter Rogatory (letter of request) can be sent via courts in India to the court/authority concerned in the contracting state.
According to government records, the Sterling Biotech Limited “bank loan fraud” case tops the list with the attachment of properties worth ₹9,778 crore (movable assets: ₹2,538 crore) in the U.S., U.K., and Comoros. About 250 domestic and 100 offshore shell entities in countries like the U.S., U.K., U.A.E, Nigeria, Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, Panama, and Barbados, were used by the accused to divert and launder funds.
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Properties valued about ₹1,246 crore have been attached in Australia, U.S., and UAE, in the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) case involving ₹34,615 crore. The probe is based on an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), its biggest ever “bank fraud” case, in which DHFL’s then CMD Kapil Wadhawan, director Dheeraj Wadhawan and others are accused.
In the Nirav Modi case — a part of the ₹13,578 crore Punjab National Bank scam, the ED has attached properties worth over ₹915 crore (movable assets: ₹530.50 crore) in the U.S., U.K., UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Switzerland. He along his uncle allegedly cheated banks through use of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking. Assets linked to Mr. Choksi have been attached in the US, UAE, and Japan.
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While Mr. Nirav Modi is currently lodged in a U.K. jail facing extradition proceedings, Mr. Choksi has become an Antiguan citizen and is also fighting extradition request from India.
The agency has, in the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) provident fund scam case, attached ₹578-crore movable assets in the U.K.. As alleged, over ₹4,323 crore was invested in companies with questionable financial conditions, including DHFL. Another major attachment of London and Dubai assets worth ₹503 crore was made in the Jet Airways (India) Limited bank loan case involving its founder chairman Naresh Goyal and others.
In the PACL Limited case, the accused had raised about ₹49,000 crore from 58 million investors over 18 years through illegal collective investment schemes. The funds were siphoned off to shell entities, withdrawn, and routed via “hawala” to Dubai-based companies. The ED has attached Rs.462-crore properties (movable assets: Rs.436 crore) in Australia.
Movable assets worth about ₹445.24 crore have been frozen in Singapore and Hong Kong in the “online gaming fraud” case of Dokypay Technology Private Limited and Linkyun Technology Limited, which allegedly duped people of Rs.1,146 crore. The “Chinese-owned” companies were allegedly into international “hawala” and illegal activities.
The official said a restraint order for Mauritius-based movable assets valued ₹397.58 crore had been issued in the case of Mr. Lalit Modi, against whom the Tamil Nadu police had registered an FIR on October 13, 2010, alleging criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, etc.
In the ₹3,871.71-crore REI Agro “bank credit fraud” case, about ₹231 crore in movable assets have been attached in the UAE and Isle of Mann. The latest ₹224.08-crore attachment of assets, including under-construction luxury hotel projects and leasehold rights over four-acre land in Sri Lanka’s Colombo, has been made in the case of Krishh Realtech Private Limited and others, which alleges that plot buyers were cheated of about ₹503 crore.
Over ₹364-crore (movable assets: ₹322 crore) properties have been attached in Switzerland and the UAE in two Moser Baer India Limited-linked “bank loan fraud” cases. The ED probe is based on CBI FIRs.
The City Limouzine “chit-fund fraud” case, in which ₹160 crores (mostly movable assets) was attached in Switzerland and Singapore, states that prime accused Sayed Mohammed Masood and others collected over ₹1,000 crore from small-time investors in Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh on the promise of phenomenal return.
In the U.K., the ED has attached ₹118.75-crore assets in the case involving Bhushan Power and Steel Limited, which stands accused of cheating creditors to the tune of ₹47,204 crore. Recently, the agency facilitated restitution of ₹4,025 crore to a company, JSW, in the same matter.
While in the Religare Finvest Limited case, the agency attached movable assets valued Rs.109 crore in Hong Kong and the UK, yet another significant case is of Mahadev betting app, in which the Directorate has so far attached ₹99.50-crore overseas movable assets in the UAE. The app was part of an “umbrella syndicate” arranging online platforms to facilitate operations of illegal betting websites and money laundering using “benami” bank accounts. The suspected PoC in the case is about ₹6,000 crore.
In the Unitech Limited case, which alleges that about ₹7,612 crore of homebuyers, investors, and banks were diverted, the ED has attached assets valued ₹58.63 crore in the UK, and ₹7.61 crore in the UAE.
The agency is also probing U.S Awasthi, the then managing director and chief executive officer, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited; and others, based on a CBI FIR alleging receipt of illegal commission from foreign suppliers. The ED has attached Rs.39.58-crore movable assets in Switzerland. This apart, bank accounts of some shell companies in Hong Kong, having funds equivalent to Rs.41.87 crore, were attached in the Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust(JNPT)-OBC “bank fraud” case.
As per latest figures, investigations in the HPZ Token case, in which people were cheated on the pretext of investments for mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, about ₹38.79-crore assets were traced to the UAE. Besides, UAE-based property worth Rs.37.52 crore was attached in a case allegedly involving Vinod Khute, owner of VIPS Group of Companies and Global Affiliate Business company, and others. The accused had cheated people of over ₹100 crore using Ponzi and forex trading schemes.
In the National Spot Exchange Limited case also, Rs.25.23-crore assets were traced to the UAE, while the figure stands at Rs.58 crore for the Variable Tech crypto-scam case — in which about Rs.6,600 crore was allegedly collected on false promise of 10% monthly returns — in the same country.
During the probe in the high-profile ₹3,700-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, properties valued ₹22.17 crore and ₹7.23 crore were attached in Switzerland and France.
China-based movable assets worth over ₹24 crore have been attached as regards an alleged online gaming application “Fiewin” scam run purportedly by some Chinese nationals and their Indian accomplices.
In the Zoom Developers Private Limited case, related to ₹2,650 crore taken from 25 banks, about 1,280-acre land in the U.S.’s California was attached. The agency found that about 500 companies, including 15 in the U.S., nine in UAE, seven in Singapore, four in Germany, three each in the UK and Switzerland, and two each in China and Zimbabwe, were used for alleged money laundering.
An attachment order has also been issued for ₹17.69 crore in Bermuda in the R.A. Distributors case allegedly involving fraudulent Bill of Entry submissions; and U.S.-based assets worth ₹8.44 crore in the case of DSK group chairman and Pune-based realtor Deepak Sakharam Kulkarni and others. Among the other attachments is Spain-based immovable assets worth ₹41.73 crore in the OctaFX India Private Limited “illegal online forex trading” case.
