ED seizes ₹2.54 crore, part of which was stashed in washing machine

he searches were conducted as part of ED’s probe against the entities based on the information that they had allegedly remitted forex worth ₹1,800 crore to two Singapore-based firms, Galaxy Shipping & Logistics Pte Ltd, and Horizon Shipping & Logistics Pte Ltd, in a suspicious manner, ED sources said

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) during its searches conducted in Mumbai and other cities, allegedly seized ‘unexplained’ cash worth ₹2.54 crore, part of which was hidden in a washing machine. The seizure was made at the premises of a shipping firm and its directors, and other associated entities and their directors or partners over alleged FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) contraventions.

Part of the cash seized was found stashed in a washing machine.

The searches were conducted as part of ED’s probe against the entities based on the information that they had allegedly remitted forex worth ₹1,800 crore to two Singapore-based firms, Galaxy Shipping & Logistics Pte Ltd, Singapore and Horizon Shipping & Logistics Pte Ltd, Singapore, in a suspicious manner, ED sources said, adding that one Anthony De Silva allegedly manages the overseas entities.

The ED searches were conducted at the premises of Capricornian Shipping & Logistics Pvt Ltd. and its directors Vijay Kumar Shukla and Sanjay Goswami, sources said. The searches were also conducted at the premises of associated entities including Laxmiton Maritime, Hindustan International, Rajnandini Metals Limited, Stawart Alloys India Pvt Ltd, Bhagyanagar Limited, Vinayak Steels Limited, Vashishta Constructions Pvt Ltd, and their directors /partners Sandeep Garg, Vinod Kedia and others - at various locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kurukshetra and Kolkata, ED sources said.

ED’s searches revealed that the firms, along with the associate entities, allegedly conducted the outward remittances of ₹1,800 crore to the Singapore-based entities “in the garb of bogus freight services and imports and layering them through a web of complex transactions with the help of shell entities,” an ED source said. The shell entities under the scanner of the ED probe allegedly are Neha Metals, Amit Steel Traders, Triple M Metal and Alloys and HMS Metals, among others, the source said.

Apart from the ₹2.54 crore cash, the ED seized various documents and digital devices during its multi-city search operations. 47 bank accounts of the entities under the ED’s scanner were also frozen and the agency is assessing the funds in those, ED sources said.