ED attaches assets worth Rs 257 cr in United Group case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 257 crore based in Gurugram, Goa, Chennai and other places in Unitech Group's money laundering case, the agency said on Thursday.

The provisionally attached properties include residential and commercial units, land parcels, demand drafts, equity shares and bank account balance.

The properties are owned by CIG (Chandra Investment Group) Realty Fund and Authentic Group.

"Two Separate Provisional attachment orders were issued for attaching these assets," the ED said.

On directions of the Supreme Court, the ED had registered a money laundering case against Unitech Group on June 6, 2018, based on the First Information Reports (FIR) registered by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police and the Crime Branch unit of Central Bureau of Investigation's Delhi unit under various section of Indian Penal Code and under sections 7,7(A),8,9,10,12,13 of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The total proceeds of crime as detected by the ED is Rs 6,452 crore in this case.

For purchasing these properties, the homebuyer's funds of Rs 244 crore were illegally diverted by Chandras' to CIG Realty Fund.

The diverted funds were used to purchase land-owning companies of Unitech Group.

Auram Asset Management Private Limited was one of the companies controlled by the Chandra Family which was used to manage the affairs of CIG Realty Fund, said the ED, adding "this company was also used by Chandras' to siphon-off the investors' fund from the accounts of CIG Realty Fund".

"The misappropriated funds were used to finance the illegal activities of Chandra's such as bribing certain Tihar Jail officials and other personal expenses of Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra," the ED said.

In 2007, the ED said, instead of building houses, homebuyer's funds to the tune of Rs 60.25 crore were illegally diverted by Chandras' to Authentic Group with an intention to build a seven-star resort in South Goa. On the basis of the money trail in this matter, the ED has attached the underlying southern Goa land for the benefit of homebuyers.

During the course of the investigation, the ED has arrested five individuals namely Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra, Ramesh Chandra, Preeti Chandra and Rajesh Malik. Presently, all of them are in judicial custody of the Court.

A total of 45 searches have been conducted in this matter. ED said 14 Provisional attachment orders including current attachments and various domestic and overseas assets having a total value of Rs 1,059.52 crore have been attached.

The attachment includes the assets of Carnoustie Group, Shivalik Group, Trikar Group, CIG Realty Fund, Authentic Group and the assets of shell and personal companies of Chandras.

( With inputs from ANI )

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