New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) The ED conducted searches at seven premises located in Delhi and Kolkata and seized Rs 47 lakh and foreign currency in a case related to illegal transfer of funds outside India in the guise of payments for software import, an official said on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Visakhapatnam Sub-Zonal Office, carried out the search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the official said in a statement.
The proceeds of crime in this case are prima facie estimated to be about Rs 1,500 crore.
The search operation led to seizure of unaccounted/unexplainable cash worth Rs 47 lakh and foreign currency amounting to US $5900, 2200 United Arab Emirates dirham, 5600 renminbi/Chinese yuan along with voluminous incriminating documents/records/property papers and digital devices containing evidence of layering of proceeds of crime and its transfer outside India through shell entities, the ED said.
The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered under various sections of the IPC by M.V.P. Police Station, Visakhapatnam, on the complaint of the Income Tax Department, against Vaddi Mahesh and others, said the statement.
They were accused of conspiring together, creating false and forged documents and using the same as genuine to make foreign outward remittances through various banks, it said.
It was revealed that Vaddi Mahesh, along with his father and others, floated several companies with registered offices in Kolkata and opened bank accounts in their names, through which an amount of Rs 569.03 crore was transferred to five companies in Singapore, Hong Kong and China, ostensibly towards purchase of customised software. However, fabricated invoices of the foreign companies were submitted to the banks, and no software was imported against these remittances, the ED said.
The money laundering investigation conducted by the Enforcement Directorate revealed that Bhimendra Kumar Goyal, a habitual offender detained thrice under COFEPOSA, was smuggling cosmetics, electronic goods, textile fabrics, into India by evading customs duty, including by misusing the Customs Transit Declaration Scheme available for Nepal, the agency said.
In order to pay the overseas suppliers and to launder the proceeds of crime generated from the sale of the smuggled goods, he approached Vaddi Mahesh through his associates, it said.
Investigation showed that during 2014-17, Vaddi Mahesh received funds in the bank accounts of his shell companies from various entities and remitted the same abroad on the instructions of Bhimendra Kumar Goyal, the ED said.
These funds were parked in dormant or newly incorporated companies in Singapore and Hong Kong held by nominee directors, and were further transferred to the bank accounts of Bhimendra Kumar Goyal and the companies of his family members, Swiss Fox Pte Ltd and Bhav Technology China Limited, thereby projecting the proceeds of crime as untainted.
Investigation further revealed that Bhimendra Kumar Goyal, in collusion with Pawan Kumar Ralli, operated fake firms, Mehak Overseas, Karan Overseas and Geet Enterprises, in fictitious names at fake addresses in New Delhi, and that part of the proceeds of crime was also diverted abroad through Village Handicraft Export and received in Eagle Mount Trading Pte Ltd, Singapore, beneficially owned by Ashish Todi, the ED said.
–IANS
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