ED attaches ₹36.66 cr assets in case against HDIL promoters

ED attached commercial properties worth ₹36.66 crore in Mumbai and Palghar in a money-laundering probe related to a ₹200 crore bank fraud case involving HDIL promoters.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached commercial properties worth ₹36.66 crore located in Mumbai and Palghar as part of its money-laundering probe linked to an alleged ₹200 crore bank fraud case involving private firm Housing Development and Infrastructure Private Limited (HDIL) promoters and others. The attached assets consist of two office units in an Andheri (East) building and 27 shop units located in Palghar.

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As per the agency’s provisional attachment order, the commercial properties attached include two office units sized 22,366 square feet in a building, Kaledonia, in Andheri (East) and 27 shop units, with a total carpet area of 3,541.97 square feet, located at Veena Velocity Phase 2 in Palghar. The assets attached by the agency belong to Veena Developers, according to ED. The agency in the past attached assets estimated at ₹244.36 crore, with the total attachments in the case worth ₹281.02 crore now.

The agency’s money laundering case stems from an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Mumbai. The FIR, lodged against HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, accuses them of diverting loan funds amounting to ₹200 crore, sanctioned by Yes Bank, to a firm named M/s Mack Star Marketing Private Limited. This case involves various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The loan was given to a joint venture firm of HDIL with another company allegedly for the renovation of a barely two-year-old office premises. It was alleged that the whole loan sum amount was allegedly diverted to the HDIL group companies and used to pay off an earlier HDIL loan from Yes Bank, according to CBI sources.

Later, the firm, Mack Star, approached Mumbai police’s NM Joshi police with a complaint against the Wadhawans, based on which the case was lodged. It was alleged that Wadhawans had allegedly fraudulently sold office units in the Andheri (East) building, Kaledonia, owned by Mack Star. The alleged act caused a loss of around ₹300 crore to Mack Star, ED sources said. The allegations made in the NM Joshi police’s case are also being looked into by the ED probe, apart from the alleged siphoning of the bank loan amount of ₹200 crore.

ED’s probe brought to light that the Wadhawans had allegedly illegally transferred a commercial property of Mack Star located in Kaledonia building to Vikram Homes Pvt. Ltd, without making any actual payment to Mack Star thereby cheating the latter. ED’s probe also revealed that the sale allegedly occurred without taking the consent of the majority shareholder of Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd, the sources said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached properties worth ₹8.98 crore in a separate money laundering investigation linked to a Pune police case involving an alleged ₹100 crore scam. Dubai-based businessman Vinod Khute and others are accused of cheating investors with fraudulent financial schemes, collecting over ₹100 crore. The attached assets, belonging to Khute’s relatives, include five flats, two halls, two office units in Pune, and a land parcel in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Khute, suspected to be in Dubai, allegedly operated illegal trades and forex trading through M/s Kana Capital Limited. Separately, the ED provisionally attached properties worth ₹1.81 crore in Lonavala in a case involving Yusuf Lakdawala and others. This investigation follows a Mumbai police case against Lakdawala and associates for allegedly acquiring land using forged documents.