10 , June , 2023
In a major development, Roop Kumar Bansal, Director of M3M, has been arrested in a money laundering case linked to real estate firm IREO.
Bansal was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday and he was later produced in a special court in Panchkula in Haryana which sent him to seven-day ED custody, informed ED in a statement.
The arrest, it said, was made in connection with the investigation being done against IREO and M3M groups for "diverting, siphoning off and misappropriating funds of investors and customers".
"The custody of Roop Kumar Bansal became necessary for investigation, and he has been avoiding investigation and not responding to summons issued by ED on multiple occasions," it said.
On 1st June, the ED carried out raids against the M3M group and its directors as well as against IREO in Delhi and Gurugram. It later alleged in a press statement that the owners, controllers and promoters of the M3M group -- Basant Bansal, Roop Kumar Bansal, Pankaj Bansal -- and other key persons deliberately avoided investigations during the raids.
M3M directors, including Bansal, had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court following the searches to quash the ED case and summons issued to them, saying they have not indulged in any wrongdoing, sources indicated.
The agency alleged "huge amount of money running into hundreds of crores were siphoned off through the M3M group" in this case. In one of the transactions, the M3M group received about Rs 400 crore from IREO through several shell companies in multiple layers, it said.
"The transactions were shown in books of IREO as payments towards development rights. The land was owned by M3M group and the market value of the land was around Rs 4 crore."
"M3M group initially sold the development rights of the said land to five shell companies for a payment of Rs 10 crore and it was claimed that these companies are unrelated," it said. However, it said, probe found that the five shell companies were operated by the M3M group. These shell companies immediately sold the development rights of the land to IREO for about Rs 400 crore and after receiving the amount, the five shell companies transferred it immediately to the M3M group through another set of multiple shell companies, the ED alleged.
"All the shell companies were owned and operated by M3M group under the directions of its promoters Basant Bansal and Roop Kumar Bansal and his family members," it claimed.
In this way, IREO and M3M siphoned off about Rs 400 crore money belonging to investors and customers and the proceeds of crime remained with the M3M group which was used by it for other investments and paying off liabilities, the ED found. It added that the IREO group did not make any efforts to develop the land and started to write off the investments every year and Roop Kumar Bansal played a "key role" in the completion of the transactions.
The agency on Monday seized luxury cars, including a Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley, worth Rs 60 crore as well as jewellery valued at Rs 5.75 crore during its raids on the two groups. The agency has been investigating the IREO group for the last few years on charges of diverting, siphoning and misappropriating funds of investors and customers.
(WITH INPUTS TAKEN FROM PTI)
