ED attaches ₹16.57-crore assets of businessman Shravan Gupta in AgustaWestland case
- In Reports
- 12:05 PM, Mar 19, 2024
- Myind Staff
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate announced that it has seized a plot and a farmhouse in Delhi valued at over Rs 16 crore, which is owned by Shravan Gupta, a former managing director of the real estate giant Emaar MGF. This action is part of the ongoing money laundering probe related to the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP choppers purchase scandal.
“ED has provisionally attached immovable properties worth ₹16.57 crore belonging to Shravan Gupta, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam case. The AgustaWestland properties attached are in the form of land/farmhouse (s) located in a posh area of Delhi. ED had earlier attached properties amounting to ₹4.05 crore belonging to Gupta and his wife in 2022,” the agency said in a statement.
“Gupta received proceeds of crime in companies such as Natille Overseas Inc, Switzerland, Timekeeper Ltd, British Virgin Islands, Hall Park Holdings Limited, United Kingdom etc, which are beneficially owned by him. The proceeds of crime were received from a shell company based out of Mauritius, which had received the kickbacks in the defence deal from Agusta Spa, Italy,” the ED said.
The agency had registered a money laundering case in 2014 taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.
“Presently, extradition proceedings against Gupta are underway as he fled the country in November 2019,” ED statement said.
A spokesperson for Shravan Gupta denied any involvement in the case.
“We wish to state that this matter is sub judice and Mr Gupta has no involvement in the said case. This attachment is also illegal and the same will be challenged in the appropriate court. Mr Gupta has been a non-resident Indian since 2016,” the spokesperson said.
According to an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the investigative agency discovered during its inquiry that AgustaWestland paid kickbacks amounting to 70 million euros to influence the acquisition of 12 VVIP choppers.
The probe agency alleged that these kickbacks were laundered through complex networks that extended across countries such as Tunisia, Mauritius, the UK, Switzerland, the British Virgin Islands, and the UAE. Specifically, it was revealed that 28 million euros of the kickbacks were routed through the companies of foreign nationals Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa in India and Tunisia. A substantial portion of these funds ultimately landed in companies beneficially owned by Shravan Gupta.
During the investigation, the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet and 11 supplementary chargesheets before a special court and issued 12 Provisional Attachment Orders (PAOs), totalling the proceeds of crime worth Rs 110 crore.
The attached properties include bank accounts, mutual funds, stocks, jewellery, land and residential flats in India, as well as a residential property in France and a bank account in Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA, Zurich, Switzerland, held by other accused individuals.
The extradition of Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman and British national, from Dubai, along with the deportation of another accused from the same jurisdiction, highlights the international dimensions of the case.
Image source: India Today
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