ED attaches Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s property in NSEL PMLA case

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The ED on Friday stated it has hooked up property value Rs 11.35 crore of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik within the cash laundering case linked to the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL).

The federal probe company issued a provisional order beneath the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of two flats and a parcel of land in Thane (close to Mumbai) “held by” Sarnaik.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the NSEL case after taking congnisance of a 2013 FIR of the financial offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police towards its administrators, key officers and 25 defaulters.

The accused hatched a “criminal conspiracy” to defraud the traders, induced them to commerce on the platform of the NSEL, created solid paperwork like bogus warehouse receipts, falsified the accounts and thereby dedicated legal breach of belief in respect Rs 5,600 crore of roughly 13,000 traders, the ED stated.

Probe discovered that “the money collected from various investors were diverted by borrowers/trading members of NSEL for other activities like investment into real estate, repayment of outstanding debts and other activities.”

Talking in regards to the position of Sarnaik and his linked corporations, it stated {that a} agency referred to as Aastha Group, a defaulting member of NSEL, has legal responsibility of Rs 242.66 crore in direction of the alternate.

“Aastha Group diverted Rs 21.74 crore of Vihang Aastha Housing Projects LLP in the period of 2012-13. Out of total amount of Rs 21.74 crore received by Vihang Aastha Housing Projects LLP, Rs 11.35 crore was transferred to Vihang Enterprises and Vihang Infrastructure Pvt. Limited, both firms controlled by Pratap Sarnaik and his family members,” the ED alleged.

The remaining quantity of Rs 10.50 crore originating from Aastha Group was paid to at least one Yogesh Deshmukh. “This amount (of Rs 10.50 crore) has already been attached under PMLA and the same has been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority of the PMLA,” it stated.

The complete worth of hooked up property on this case now stands at Rs 3,254.02 crore, the ED stated.

The company earlier this week hooked up property value Rs 6.45 crore of an organization owned by Shridhar Madhav Patankar, the brother-in-law of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in reference to a cash laundering investigation.

A lot of politicians and ministers of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) authorities have confronted ED motion up to now.

NCP chief and minister within the Thackeray cabinet Nawab Malik was arrested by the ED final month on cash laundering fees, his former colleague Anil Deshmukh was held in a separate case and a sugar mill linked to state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was hooked up by the company final 12 months within the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) rip-off case.

Assets belonging to Maharashtra minister and NCP MLA Prajakt Tanpure and others had been additionally hooked up by it final month in reference to its probe into the alleged rip-off in MSCB. It has additionally questioned Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut’s spouse Varsha in a cash laundering case whereas get together chief and minister Anil Parab has been questioned by it within the case towards Anil Deshmukh.

Sena MP Bhavana Gawali too is going through a cash laundering investigation.