ED questions NCP’s Praful Patel for 12 hrs

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel for 12 hours, in connection with a money-laundering investigation

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel for 12 hours, in connection with a money-laundering investigation related to the alleged illegal assets of late Iqbal Mirchi, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

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Patel reached the ED’s Ballard Estate office at 10.30am. The agency is examining if Patel met anyone from the Mirchi family and if there were any financial transactions with them.

Agency sources stated that they are questioning Patel over alleged property dealings with the Mirchi family.

Patel refused to speak to mediapersons after his questioning.

According to ED officials, Patel’s Millennium Developers Pvt Ltd constructed a building called Ceejay House in Mumbai in 2006-07 and its third and fourth floors, measuring around 14,000 square feet, were transferred to Mirchi’s wife Hajra Iqbal Memon.

The land on which the building stands , the agency believes, was owned by Mirchi and purchased from the proceeds of money laundering, drug trafficking and extortion.

Earlier this week, Patel had clarified in a press conference in Mumbai that there was no financial transaction or partnership between Mirchi’s wife Hajra and his family, as claimed by the agency. Michi’s family too has been summoned in this case. However, they emailed the ED, stating that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions are not applicable outside the country.

ED sources revealed that Hazra and her son Junaid are believed to be in the UAE, while her another son Asif is in London. The agency is likely to send letter of requests to UK and UAE in this regard.

ED investigators also said they were investigating possible links between Patel and the promoters of Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, arrested in connection with the Rs4,355-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud, after finding some documents, which showed that Patel used a private jet owned by a company linked to the Wadhawans. A passenger manifest list of Privilege Airways Pvt Ltd in ED’s possession, also reviewed by HT, stated that Patel used the private jet twice in March 2012. Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan are listed as the only directors of this company. The duo was also brought to the ED office on Friday evening after a court granted the agency their custody.