2 directors of Delhi jewellery firm arrested by ED in Satyendar Jain case

The two are described by ED as associates of former Delhi health minister who was arrested by ED on May 30 in a money laundering case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain, directors of a jewellery firm in Delhi, on charges of assisting Delhi’s jailed minister Satyendar Jain in money laundering, people familiar with the development said

Former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, who is in judicial custody following his arrest by ED, was hospitalised last week after his oxygen level dipped (PTI)

Vaibhav and Ankush Jain were arrested under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

ED said both are directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd, which was raided on June 6. After the searches at premises linked to six people including the jewellery firm’s five directors, ED said it recovered ₹2.85 crore and 133 gold coins alleging that the gold was from “unexplained sources” and was “secreted” in the properties.

The minister was arrested by ED on May 30 in a money laundering case based on a 2017 FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the minister. On Monday, a Delhi court decided to remand the minister, who was hospitalised last week after his oxygen level dipped, in judicial custody for two more weeks.

Satyendar Jain and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have repeatedly rejected ED’s contention and described the case against the minister as “political vendetta”.

Kejriwal has also refused to drop the jailed minister from his council of ministers - his portfolios including departments of health, home and water are being handled by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia - to underline that Satyendar Jain was being harassed. After the last round of raids on June 6, Kejriwal tweeted a counter-attack at PM Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “Lies upon lies upon lies. You have the strength of all the agencies. But god is with us.”

ED said it already attached land in Delhi worth ₹4.81 crore belonging to companies linked to the case — Akinchan Developers, Indo Metal Impex, Paryas Infosolutions, Mangalyatan Projects, and JJ Ideal Estate — and Jain’s relatives Swati Jain, Sushila Jain, and Indu Jain.

“Investigation by ED revealed that during the period 2015-16, when Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of ₹4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route,”an ED officer said, asking not to be named.

According to the agency, Jain allegedly used the services of two people from Kolkata, Rajender Bansal and Jiivendra Mishra, who admitted during questioning that their main business was to provide accommodation entries through shell companies to various beneficiaries, whether in the form of share capital or unsecured loans at a commission of 15 to 20 paisa per ₹100.

The central anti-money laundering probe agency has found Jain transferred money to Kolkata through the hawala channel and got it back from dummy companies in the form of accommodation entries, even though he could not show the source of the money received.

Accommodation entries are usually done by hawala operators to accommodate illegal money in a company through a shell firm or in the form of cash by breaking large amounts into smaller sums to avoid suspicion. Jain is accused of using laundering money to purchase land in Delhi.

Jain’s counsel, senior advocate N Hari Haran, has said that there is nothing new in ED’s case, and it was “a replica of the CBI case”.