Latest news with #PreventionofMoneyLaundering
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Watches, coins, flat: Properties linked to Nirav Modi worth Rs 60 crore to be restored to PNB
A special court permitted restoration of properties linked to diamond merchant Nirav Modi valued at over Rs 60.33 crore, to the Punjab National Bank (PNB), allowing the bank's plea which said that the consortium of banks led by it has incurred losses of Rs 8526 crore in the alleged fraud. The restored properties include valuables worth Rs 40.83 crore, including jewellery, coins, watches and cash, from the Worli residence of Nirav Modi and a flat worth Rs 19.50 crore in Breach Candy. These properties were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2018-19 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, as part of its probe in to the fraud, where Nirav Modi and others are alleged to have connived with bank officials in issuing fraudulent Letters of Undertaking from 2008, causing losses to the banks. The PNB, citing the Prevention of Money Laundering (Restoration of Confiscated Property) Rules, 2016, said that the banks have a legitimate interest in the properties as they have suffered cumulative loss of more than Rs 8526.20 crore due to the fraud. It said that the value of the properties attached by the ED is around Rs 2,324.97 crore. It sought exemption of the two properties, including the valuables seized from the Samudra Mahal flats of Nirav Modi and a flat in Diamond Head building in Breach Candy, which was in the name of his sister, Purvi. The ED gave its no-objection to the plea. Purvi's lawyer, Manavendra Mishra, submitted that she is not the beneficial owner of the flat, and has no objection for the PNB plea to be allowed. Special Judge A V Gujarathi said that the case is pending since 2019 and the proclamation is issued against the diamond merchant and others in 2019, as they are absconding. A plea to declare Nirav Modi a fugitive economic offender is also pending. He is currently in the UK facing extradition proceedings. The court also noted that the ED and Purvi have not objected to the plea. It directed PNB to file an undertaking to return the amount with interest, in case the court deems it fit. Previously too in separate orders, restoration of properties was allowed to the PNB.
India Today
4 days ago
- India Today
ED chargesheets Pakistani man for creating fake IDs for Bangladeshis in India
The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet under the anti-money laundering law against a Pakistani man, living as an Indian in Kolkata, after illegally procuring as many as five vital government IDs, including Aadhaar, voter card and was laundering funds by making "fake" Indian IDs for Bangladeshis who came to India and through other illegal activities like hawala, the federal probe agency said in a statement on ED said it submitted the prosecution complaint against the man named Ajad Mallik alias Ahammed Hossain Azad and Azad Hossain before a special Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court in Kolkata on June 13. The court has taken note against the "Pakistani national" and fixed a date for hearing, it ED, which carried out raids in this case in April, had then said in a press statement that Mallik was a Bangladeshi national. It arrested Mallik under the anti-money laundering law and the probe brought to light that he was indeed a Pakistani ED case stems from a West Bengal Police FIR against Mallik and unidentified others for violation of the Foreigners Act of 1946."Probe found that the man was a Pakistani national illegally living in India," the ED statement Pakistani driving licence dating back to 1994 was recovered from his mobile phone bearing the name Azad Hossain and featuring the photograph of Ajad Mallik alias Ahammed Hossain Azad. It listed his father's name as Mumtaz-Ul-Haque and a permanent address in Pakistan," the ED said the driving licence recorded his date of birth as August 14, 1971, and it was issued by the licencing authority in Hyderabad, order to "conceal" his true identity, the ED said, the man adopted the alias "Ajad Mallik" and procured multiple Indian identity documents like Aadhaar, PAN (permanent account number issued by the income-tax department) card, driving licence, voter ID and passport by submitting "forged" and "fabricated" documents, as per the agency found that the man operated a hawala network to facilitate illegal cross-border remittances between India and Bangladesh, collecting payments in cash and UPI, before transferring equivalent amounts to Bangladesh using platforms like 'Bkash', an online financial transaction platform in Bangladesh."He was also involved in illegal money transfers and document forgery and was actively involved in facilitating the preparation of visas and passports for Bangladeshi nationals seeking to travel to countries like Dubai, Cambodia and Malaysia," the ED Pakistani man collected payments in Bangladeshi Taka, US Dollars, and Indian Rupees and deposited these amounts into his own bank account or transferred them to the accounts of associates engaged in fraudulent visa or passport processing, the ED played a "significant" role in "fraudulent" activities carried out at certain forex changers (full-fledged money changers) based in Kolkata, in which "huge" cash deposits were declared as proceeds from legitimate foreign currency sales to customers, but were actually "proceeds of crime" linked to "unlawful" activities including the creation of "fake" Indian identities for Bangladeshis to obtain passports, the ED ED had said in April that the man has two sons - Osama Bin Azad and Omar Faruk - and his wife Maymuna Akhter, residing in Bangladesh and are citizens of that country. It said the man "frequently" visited Bangladesh to meet his Watch
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
ED files chargesheet against Pakistani who made Indian government IDs for Bangaldeshis in Kolkata
The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet under the anti-money laundering law against a Pakistani man, living as an Indian in Kolkata, after illegally procuring as many as five vital government IDs including Aadhaar, voter card and passport. He was laundering funds by making "fake" Indian IDs for Bangladeshis who came here and through other illegal activities like hawala, the federal probe agency said in a statement on Monday (June 16, 2025). The ED said it has submitted the prosecution complaint against the man named Ajad Mallik alias Ahammed Hossain Azad and Azad Hossain before a special Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court in Kolkata on June 13. The court has taken cognisance against the "Pakistani national" and fixed a date for hearing, it said. The ED, which carried out raids in this case in April, had then said in a press statement that Mallik was a Bangladeshi national. It arrested Mallik under the anti-money laundering law and the probe brought to light that he was indeed a Pakistani national. The ED case stems from a West Bengal Police FIR against Mallik and unidentified others for violation of the Foreigners Act of 1946. "Probe found that the man was a Pakistani national illegally living in India," the ED statement said. "A Pakistani driving licence dating back to 1994 was recovered from his mobile phone bearing the name Azad Hossain and featuring the photograph of Ajad Mallik alias Ahammed Hossain Azad. It listed his father's name as Mumtaz-Ul-Haque and a permanent address in Pakistan," the ED said. It said the driving licence recorded his date of birth as 14/08/1971 and it was issued by the Licensing Authority in Hyderabad, Pakistan. In order to "conceal" his true identity, the ED said, the man adopted the alias "Ajad Mallik" and procured multiple Indian identity documents like Aadhaar, PAN (permanent account number issued by the income-tax department) card, driving license, voter ID and passport by submitting "forged" and "fabricated" documents, as per the ED. The agency found that the man operated a "hawala" network to facilitate illegal cross-border remittances between India and Bangladesh, collecting payments in cash and UPI, before transferring equivalent amounts to Bangladesh using platforms like 'Bkash', an online financial transaction platform of Bangladesh. "He was also involved in illegal money transfers and document forgery and was actively involved in facilitating the preparation of visas and passports for Bangladeshi nationals seeking to travel to countries like Dubai, Cambodia and Malaysia," the ED said. The Pakistani man collected payments in Bangladeshi Taka, U.S. Dollar, and Indian Rupee and deposited these amounts into his own bank account or transferred them to the accounts of associates engaged in fraudulent visa or passport processing, the ED alleged. He played a "significant" role in "fraudulent" activities carried out at certain forex changers (full-fledged money changers) based in Kolkata, in which "huge" cash deposits were declared as proceeds from legitimate foreign currency sales to customers but were actually "proceeds of crime" linked to "unlawful" activities including the creation of "fake" Indian identities for Bangladeshis to obtain passports, the ED said. The ED had said in April that the man has two sons — Osama Bin Azad and Omar Faruk — and his wife, Maymuna Akhter, residing in Bangladesh and are citizens of that country. It said the man "frequently" visited Bangladesh to meet his family.
Indian Express
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Maharashtra Sadan case: ED returned ‘wet, torn' passports, Bhujbal tells PMLA court
In a submission made before a Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court, Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal said last week that his passport was returned to him 'wet and torn' due to a fire that broke out in the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai on April 27. A similar submission was also made by his son, Pankaj, in a separate application before the court last week. Bhujbal and Pankaj had been named as accused in a case filed by the ED in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan case, and their bail conditions required them to deposit their passports with the ED. A fire had broken out at the Ballard Estate office of the ED on April 27. Both Bhujbal and his son had in April sought permission from the court to travel abroad and sought for their passports to be returned to them for that purpose. Two days after the fire, the court had on April 29 allowed the two to travel abroad. Their passports were returned to them on May 13. However, they submitted to the court that the passports were returned 'wet and torn'. Worried that it may cause problems during immigration, the duo applied for new passports via tatkal to expedite their travel. Bhujbal informed the court that this took time as he had to then also obtain fresh Schengen visas, and hence he had to alter his travel dates. From his earlier permitted dates between May 24 to June 8, he sought further permission to travel till June 12. Pankaj had also made the same submission. The ED opposed their pleas for the extension, stating that they may abscond and delay the trial, which is yet to commence. 'It is pertinent to note that the accused (is) already permitted to travel abroad. The passport of the applicant (was) wet and torn in the office of the Enforcement Directorate. Considering the reasons put forth in the application, it is allowed. Extension for travel for the period of four days is granted up to the period of June 12 under the same terms and conditions imposed in the order dated April 29, 2025,' special judge Satyanarayan Navander said in an order passed on June 2. A fire had broken out at the ED Mumbai Zonal office-I on the fourth floor of the Kaiser-I-Hind building in Ballard Estate around 2.25 am on April 27. The fire had been doused in over an hour, suspected to have been caused due to a short circuit. The ED in a statement had then said that certain documents and furniture had been damaged but that evidentiary documents related to investigations were also stored in digital format, therefore no impediment in conducting investigation or trial is expected.
India Gazette
17-05-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
"Fake narratives, part of a malicious media campaign": BYJU's founder Raveendran on being labelled 'fugitive'
Dubai [UAE], May 17 (ANI): Byju Raveendran, the founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of embattled ed-tech company BYJU's has denied the allegations of being a 'fugitive,' attributing these claims to a 'fake narrative' and a 'malicious media campaign,' adding that these narratives were created to take control of the company. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Raveendran accused US-based 'lenders' of tarnishing the company's reputation which led to the downfall of all stakeholders and investors. He further alleged that they tried to create 'prejudice' in the Indian courts for calling Raveendran and his brother 'fugitive.' 'These are narratives which they have created in trying to take control of the company. Unfortunately, in a company which is built on the founders' name, or where the founder played an important role in the early years, they miss the fact that if you tarnish the founders name, it'll have a huge impact in the company's valuation. Even they overplayed that game to such an extent that has hurt everyone, all stakeholders, investors, including themselves. That's a game played wrong and by a few vulture lenders who were based out of US. This is exactly what was created, used to create prejudice in Indian courts by calling us fugitives, by calling me and my brother is having lookout notices,' Raveendran told ANI. Raveendran has publicly acknowledged the company's dramatic decline and vowed to rebuild, despite facing lawsuits, financial turmoil, and investor disputes. Byju's, once valued at $22 billion, has experienced a significant decline due to financial problems, regulatory issues, and legal battles. The BYJU's founder also spoke about the investigations conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying that the inquiry was around the company and there was nothing personal in it. He said, 'Now, we were freely traveling to India as and when required, keeping Dubai as a base for international expansion. These are all wrong narratives or fake narratives. There is no truth in this. The only truth here is the fact that there was an ED enquiry which was around the company, nothing personal over there. That investigation is closed and it's adjudication stage.' Speaking on the lookout notices issued by the ED against him, Raveendran attributed it to the 'wrong media narratives' implying that ED never makes such things public because that 'defeats' the purpose. He further pointed out that there was never a chargesheet or a Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case against him rather there were only summons to which he cooperated. 'I have been traveling to India like even after the ED inquiry started. First of all, if ED puts out a lookout notice, they will never make that public because that defeats the purpose. It's a wrong media narrative around the ED investigation, it was never personal. It was on the think and learn transactions, which was other than a few misses on the filing timelines, there was never a PMLA. There was never a charge sheet. There were summons, I went and met, we cooperated. Investigation is closed. So, the whole narrative was blown out of proportion,' the BYJU's founder said. Further clarifying the allegations of being declared a 'fugitive,' Raveendran stated that this was just a part of a 'malicious media campaign,' as this word was used just 'verbally' and didn't had any mention in the official documents. He said, 'Our entire wealth, entire company was built out of India. All our wealth which we created was made in India, taxes were paid in India, invested back in India. We have nothing outside India. This is created by a few vested interests. If you see this fugitive word, they only use verbally. None of the filings, none of the court filings, none of the affidavits, you will never find any of this. This is just part of a malicious media campaign. None of the documents will have this word.' (ANI)
