A member of an adjudicating authority designated by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has declared that at least 41 properties of businessman Mehul Choksi, worth about Rs 1,210 crore and already attached by the Enforcement Directorate, are money laundering assets, PTI reported on Sunday.
The authority is a quasi-judicial body that rules in cases of assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate under the anti-money laundering law.
“Considering the material in the original complaint [by the ED]...I find that immovable properties provisionally attached are all involved in money laundering,” said Tushar V Shah, member (law) of the PMLA Adjudicating Authority. “I, therefore, hereby confirm the attachment of properties...and order that the said attachment shall continue during investigation for a period not exceeding 90 days or the pendency of proceedings relating to any offence under the PMLA before a court and become final after an order of confiscation is passed by the special court.”
In February, the investigating agency provisionally attached 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a four-acre farm house in Alibaug and 231 acres of land at locations such as Nashik, Nagpur, Panvel in Maharashtra and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. The directorate will now move to seize these properties and put up possession signage at these locations.
Choksi fled India in January, a few weeks before a massive scam at Punjab National Bank came to light. He and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused of defrauding the bank of over Rs 13,000 crore. At present, he is in Antigua and Barbuda, which granted him citizenship in November 2017.
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