E-Paper
Bogus imports case: ED attaches ₹7.6-cr assets of Mumbai bizman
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached ₹7.63-crore assets of a businessman, Madanlal Jain, in connection with a bogus import case, under the Prevention of
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached ₹7.63-crore assets of a businessman, Madanlal Jain, in connection with a bogus import case, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
The attachment comprises of 15 immovable properties — admeasuring 3,848.93sqm and worth ₹4.80 crore — in Gam-Katargam, Surat, held in the name of M/s Rivertouch Resorts Pvt Ltd, a firm controlled by Jain, the ED said. The movable property attached is in the form of bank balance, totalling ₹2.83 crore.
The agency was conducting a money-laundering probe against a diamond trader, Afroz Mohamed Hasanfatta, when the fraudulent transactions, including those done by Jain, emerged.
The ED was probing Hasanfatta’s transaction for alleged illegal outward remittances of foreign exchange on the basis of bogus import documents. The probe revealed that while there were no actual imports of diamonds, fake bills were prepared, and money was sent abroad. Earlier, the ED had arrested Hasanfatta, Jain, Manish Shah, Rakesh Kothari and Jayesh Desai for laundering money, and attached some of their properties, amounting to ₹26.55 crore, and also filed five prosecution complaints against them before the PMLA court in Ahmedabad. The total attachment in the case now stands at ₹34.18 crore.
“Inquiries further revealed that Hasanfatta, Jain, Bilal Haroon Gilani, Jayesh Desai, Rakesh Kothari were involved in this racket. These accused created shell companies using dummy persons as directors/partners,” read the ED statement.
The investigation was initiated on the basis of a complaint received by the crime branch, Surat, from a Surat-based bank in 2014, against M/S RA Distributors Pvt Ltd and others, alleging that the companies had prepared fake ‘bills of entry’ for illegal outward remittances. ED found that the nine companies, having accounts in the Surat bank, remitted huge amounts of money on the basis of the bills to three companies in UAE and 15 firms in Hong Kong. These eight entities had received funds through various cheque discounters and a web of 2,700 companies.
