E-Paper
ED attaches properties worth ₹24.95 crore of Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal in Delhi
On August 1, ED conducted "search operations" at premises of Pawan Munjal and other officials and seized valuables worth ₹25 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached three properties worth ₹24.95 crore of Pawan Munjal, CMD and chairman of Hero MotoCorp, in New Delhi under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) under section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 against Munjal and others for taking foreign exchange currency out of India illegally, the probe agency said in a statement.
“The prosecution complaint alleges that Foreign Currency/ Foreign Exchange equivalent to Rs. 54 Crore was illegally taken out of India,” it said.
The ED also said the investigation revealed that “Munjal got issued foreign exchange/ foreign currency in the name of other persons and thereafter utilised the same for his personal expenditure abroad”.
“The foreign currency/ foreign exchange was drawn from authorised dealers by a event management company in the name of various employees and thereafter handed over to Pawan Kant Munjal’s relationship manager. The relationship manager carried such foreign currency/ foreign exchange in cash/ card secretly, for the personal expenditure of Pawan Kant Munjal during his personal/ business trips. The modus was adopted to override the limits of USD 2.5 Lakh per annum per person under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme,” the central probe agency further explained.
ED conducted 'search operations' at Pawan Munjal premises
On August 1, the ED had conducted "search operations" at the premises of Munjal and other officials of his company and seized valuables worth ₹25 crore (approx) along with digital evidence and other incriminating evidence. The total value of seizure and attachment stands at about ₹50 crore, the agency said.
In March 2022, the income tax department conducted searches on the offices of Hero Motorcorp over alleged tax evasion. The department had also conducted searches at Munjal’s residence.
The DRI prosecution complaint was filed on charges of “carrying, attempting to export and illicit export of prohibited items, i.e., foreign currency” against PK Munjal, a third-party service provider company called Salt Experience and Management Pvt. Ltd. (SEMPL), and individuals identified as Amit Bali, Hemant Dahiya, KR Raman and some others.
The ED said SEMPL “illegally exported foreign currency equivalent to about ₹54 crore to various countries during the period 2014-2015 to 2018-2019, which was ultimately used for personal expenses of PK Munjal".
SEMPL, it alleged, was issued foreign exchange to the tune of about ₹14 crore in the name of its officials/employees such as Hemant Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj and Ketan Kakkar, over and above the annual permissible limit of USD 250,000 in various financial years.
