PANAJI
A property in Goa is among 22 movable and immovable assets worth Rs 112.90 crore approx provisionally attached by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case linked to M/s LEEL Electricals Limited (formerly M/s Lloyd Electric & Engineering Limited), its promoter Bharat Raj Punj and others.
The ED said the attachment, carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, covers land, industrial plots, residential properties, bank balances, fixed deposits and mutual fund investments spread across Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The agency has also attached a residential property in Houston, Texas (USA).
ED officials further said that the attached assets are beneficially owned and controlled by the promoter family of LEEL Electricals Ltd. and were held either in their own names or through related and shell entities to conceal the proceeds of crime.
The action is taken following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), New Delhi, against LEEL Electricals Ltd, Bharat Raj Punj and other senior company officials under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The ED said the CBI's investigation found that the promoters and key managerial personnel had allegedly conspired to cheat a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) by submitting false and manipulated financial statements, resulting in a wrongful loss of about Rs 376 crore to SBI and IDBI Bank.
The agency's investigation under the PMLA revealed that the accused allegedly siphoned off bank funds by falsifying the company's books of account through inflated values of assets, inventories, and receivables to continue availing of bank credit facilities.
The ED further alleged that the diverted funds were routed through a network of promoter-controlled and related companies in India and transferred to several overseas subsidiaries under the guise of investments and loans. A significant portion of these funds could not be recovered, indicating that the overseas entities were allegedly used to divert and conceal the proceeds of crime.
According to the agency, the diverted funds were ultimately converted into immovable properties held in the names of related companies and members of the promoter family, including the property in Goa. Several of these properties were later sold, with the proceeds allegedly used for the personal and operational expenses of the promoter family, including those of Renu Punj, mother of Bharat Raj Punj.
The ED also stated that a substantial portion of the diverted funds was routed outside India through overseas subsidiaries allegedly controlled by Bharat Raj Punj. Consequently, it has attached a residential property in Houston, Texas, that is jointly owned by Bharat Raj Punj and his wife, Pooja Punj, treating it as proceeds of crime held abroad.
