New Delhi/Mumbai, 23 May, 2019: The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday carried out fresh
searches in Mumbai in connection with its money laundering probe in the
multi-crore IL&FS payment default crisis, officials said.
They said the residences and offices of at least
four directors of the firm are being raided.
The central agency had first carried out searches
in this case in February after it filed a criminal case under the Prevention of
Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The searches are aimed at collecting additional
evidences and documents, they said.
The debt crisis at the infrastructure lender came
to light following a series of defaults by its group companies beginning September,
2018.
IL&FS has defaulted on payment of loans to
SIDBI and along with its subsidiaries has a combined debt of over Rs 91,000
crore.
The ED’s case is based on an FIR filed before the
Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police in December last year.
Ashish Begwani, Director of Enso Infrastructures
(P) Ltd, had filed the case against officials of IL&FS Rail Ltd for
allegedly causing Rs 70 crore loss to his company by fraudulent means.
Begwani had alleged in his complaint that in
August 2010, he was approached by two officials of IL&FS Transportation
Networks Ltd and he had invested Rs 170 crore in IL&FS Rail Ltd, a special
purpose vehicle for Gurugram Metro project, in order to take its 15 per cent
shares.
“However, over a period of time, the complainant
observed that the company is not performing profitably and funds are being
misused,” an EOW official had said quoting Begwani’s complaint.
The ED will probe if funds generated illegally in
this case were laundered to create illegitimate assets by the accused.
The crisis-ridden infrastructure conglomerate
IL&FS group, once hailed as a pioneer of public-private partnership, has
come under the scanner of multiple regulators, for alleged defaults related to
financial disclosures and corporate governance.