In yet another setbackto Bollywood celebrities, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday seized theassets of Dino Morea along with late Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s son-in-lawIrfan Ahmed Siddiqui in connection with the Sandesara Group Bank moneylaundering case.
According to an EDofficial, the agency has attached eight immovable properties, three vehiclesand several bank accounts/shares/mutual funds having a total value of Rs 8.79crore belonging to four persons under the provisions of the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) in the Sandesara Group case.
In this case, the ED hasseized Morea’s properties to the tune of Rs 1.4 crore, besides attachingproperties worth Rs 2.41 crore in the name of Siddiqui.
Apart from them, the EDhas also taken stern action against Sanjay Khan and one DJ Aqeel AbdulkhalilBachooali by attaching their properties worth Rs 3 crore and Rs 1.98 crore respectively.
A case of moneylaundering has also been lodged on the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI againstseveral entities for cheating various public sector banks.
The investigationsrevealed that Dino Morea received Rs 1.4 crore, DJ Aqeel received Rs 12.54crore, Irfan Siddiqui got Rs 3.51 crore and Sanjay Khan received Rs 3 crorefrom the Sandesaras bank, said an official.
During the probe it wasrevealed that Sandesaras transactions were ‘proceeds of crime’ due to which earlier,the ED had attached properties to the tune of Rs 14,513 crore in connectionwith the case.
Notably, the totalproceeds of crime, in this case, are “over Rs 1600 crore and so far ED have beenable to attach properties worth Rs 14,521.80 crore,” claimed an official.
The ED has also filed acharge-sheet along with four supplementary charge-sheets in connection with thecase and has arrested four persons so far.
The money launderingcases involves a Rs 14,500 crore bank loan fraud allegedly committed by Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetankumar JayantilalSandesara and Deepti Sandesara, main promoters and directors of SterlingBiotech. As of now, all of them are missing and it is believed that Nitin andChetanmumar is brother and has eloped to Nigeria in 2017 along with thethird available. However, a special court has declared them fugitive and authoritiesare trying to get them extradited.
As perthe investigators, this is a bigger bank scam in volume than the Punjab National Bank fraud involvingjewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
Notably, theSandesaras are also facing separate trials by the CBI and the Income TaxDepartment for their alleged nexus with high-profile politicians and charges ofcorruption and tax evasion.