As part of its money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday, October 15, said in a press release that it has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 1,317.30 crore under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA) of real estate company IREO Pvt. Ltd., its managing director-cum-vice president, Lalit Goyal, associated entities and key managerial persons.
The attached properties are in multiple locations and include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts. The ED initiated investigation under the PMLA on the basis of 30 FIRs under Indian Penal Code Sections relating to criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B) , cheating (420), forgery of valuable security (467) and using forged documents as genuine (471) registered at various police stations across Gurugram, Panchkula, Ludhiana and Delhi against real estate company.
IREO Pvt. Ltd., associated entities, directors, key managerial persons and others have also been charge sheeted. The ED took cognisance of some 30 FIRs to find out that the company’s directors, in connivance with others, had siphoned off money collected from buyers and did not use it for the intended purpose rather sending money outside the country as buy-back of shares, redemptions, FCDs, etc. and giving loans and advances to the associated entities/inidviduals, offering excessive incentives and advances to the key managerial persons to fudge the books of account.
The IREO key managerial personnel further invested this laundered money in buying immovable properties and shares of various companies within and outside India.
Earlier, the group Vice Chairman Lalit Goyal was arrested on November 16, 2021 and searches were also carried out at the premises of the company and other related key persons on November 22 last year.
ED says that subsequently, a Prosecution Complaint (chargesheet in police parlance) was filed on January 14 and the Special Court, Panchkula had taken cognizance of the same. Further investigation in this case is underway.
(The writer is CEO, Track2Realty)
