December 2nd 2023.
Mumbai recently saw the special PMLA court issue summons to Prakash Mehta of Kalpavruksha Developers and Dharmesh Jain, CMD Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd, for money laundering in connection with the foreign remittance scam. The two were accused of aiding Farooq Shaikh and facilitating foreign remittances outside India, resulting in them earning Rs.100 crore as commission.
The CBI had initially accused Farooq Shaikh of having sent foreign remittance amounting to Rs.1464.30 crore to Hong Kong between 2014 and 2016, and receiving a wrongful gain of Rs.67 crore as commission. His younger brother Hussain had also sent forex remittances in the form of USD worth Rs.724.02 crore to Hong Kong during the same period, earning a wrongful gain of Rs.33.34 crore as commission.
Moreover, during the investigation, the ED had argued that Farooq had used 13 dummy companies for illegal remittances. It was revealed that the accused had floated these entities by luring people of small means to provide them with their personal details such as PAN, Aadhar number, Ration Card, and electricity bills. These details were then utilized to open several bank accounts in the names of the proprietors and directors, thereby allowing illegal remittances to foreign destinations.
The PMLA Judge, MG Deshpande, concluded that the developers had assisted Farooq in laundering funds through his wife Aasma. It was found that Aasma had transferred proceeds of crime amounting to Rs.7 Crores to the account of M/s. Kalpavruksha Developers, and Prakash Mehta had received an amount of Rs.7 Crores.
Moreover, Jain had received proceeds of crime worth Rs.48.24 lakhs, during the period from June 2015 to November 2015. The total consideration agreed between the parties was Rs.5.70 Crores, but Jain had registered agreements for 5 flats in the name of Aasma Farooque Shaikh despite receiving only meagre amount of Rs.48,24,418.
The ED had also made M/s GLS Electronic Industries Pvt. Ltd and its director Sanjay Singhania accused for assisting Farooq divert the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs.9.87 Crores to purchase a manufacturing unit situated at Ranipur, Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
To sum up, the special PMLA court had issued summons to Prakash Mehta of Kalpavruksha Developers and Dharmesh Jain, CMD Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd, for money laundering in connection with the foreign remittance scam. Farooq Shaikh had been initially accused of having sent foreign remittance amounting to Rs.1464.30 crore to Hong Kong between 2014 and 2016, and receiving a wrongful gain of Rs.67 crore as commission. The CBI and ED had revealed the involvement of 13 dummy companies as well as other accused, with the court concluding that the developers had assisted Farooq in laundering funds through his wife Aasma.
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