23 , May , 2024
In a recent development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached fresh assets worth about Rs 59 crore of real estate company IREO and some others as part of a money laundering investigation. The agency has been probing the company and its promoters for some years now on the charge of duping home buyers by promising them to deliver flats, plots, commercial spaces etc.
However, they (the company and its promoters) neither delivered the projects nor returned the buyer's money, the ED alleged in a statement. Land parcels and bank deposits worth Rs 58.93 crore of IREO group of companies and some others have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.
"The directors of the company in connivance with certain other persons siphoned off money collected from buyers and did not use for the intended purpose."
"Rather, they sent such money outside India in the form of buy-back of shares, redemptions, FCDs (fully convertible debentures) etc. and giving loans and advances to associated entities/persons, giving excessive incentives and advances to key managerial persons," the ED said. The buyer's money was "diverted" to other companies and the total proceeds of crime identified in the case is Rs 1,780 crore, as per the agency. IREO promoter Lalit Goyal and Roop Bansal, promoter of another realty group M3M, were arrested by the ED in this case earlier. It had filed two charge sheets and attached assets worth over Rs 1,300 crore in this case in October 2022.
(WITH INPUTS TAKEN FROM PTI)
