An ED statement said that properties were held in the name of AS Coal Pte under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, including 8.86 per cent shares of ILFS Tamil Nadu Power Company Limited (ITPCL)
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets valued at Rs 452 crore of Singapore-based shell company allegedly owned by UK national Jaimin Vyas in the IL&FS case.
An ED statement said that properties were held in the name of AS Coal Pte under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, including 8.86 per cent shares of ILFS Tamil Nadu Power Company Limited (ITPCL).
The ED said that its probe revealed that there was a well-planned conspiracy to defraud IL&FS and Indian banks by Vyas in connivance with official of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) and Chinese Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) Contractor SEPCO III.
“The company’s right to select the EPC contractor was illegally delegated to Vyas, violating the terms and conditions of share purchase agreement,” the ED claimed.
The ED said that Vyas thereafter nominated SEPCO as EPC contractor and got “kickbacks” in the guise of fees for consultancy services.
“The same money was routed as equity investment in ITPCL. Subsequently, ITPCL paid SEPCO III the amount (paid earlier by SEPCO to Vyas) by inflating the value of the contract and payments were also made in the guise of early completion of project,” it said.
“Investigations also revealed that Vyas received illegal gratification from Noble Coal in lieu of awarding coal supply contract (to ITPCL) at an inflated rate,” it said.
The ED has registered a case of money laundering on the basis of an FIR registered by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police against IRL, ITNL (Group companies of IL&FS), its officials and others.
Investigation was also conducted by Serious Fraud Investigation office (SFIO) and criminal complaint has been filed by SFIO against IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) and its officials.
Earlier, the ED had attached movable and immovable properties of committee of directors of IFIN totaling Rs 126 crore, and movable and immovable properties of two defaulter loanee of IFIN — SIVA Group and ABG Group — totalling Rs 1,400 crore.
Arun Kumar Saha, one of the former Members of committee of Directors of IFIN, and Karunakaran Ramchand, former MD of ITNL, were arrested and a charge sheet filed under the PMLA.
Source: IANS
