The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a 'provisional attachment order' under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, attaching assets valued at Rs 40.37 crore belonging to Vikram Homes Pvt. Ltd as part of a bank fraud case linked to Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, the promoters of HDIL, along with others.
According to the ED officials, the attached assets are in the form of one commercial property consisting of office units in the Kaledonia Building, Andheri East, Mumbai.
The financial probe agency had initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the CBI (ACB), Mumbai under various sections of IPC, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 against Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan and others for siphoning off the loan to the tune of Rs 200 crore sanctioned by Yes Bank to one Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd.
Initially, following a complaint lodged by Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd, the NM Joshi Marg Police Station in Mumbai initiated a new FIR under multiple sections of the IPC, 1860. The allegation suggested that the Wadhawans illegally and fraudulently sold numerous office units in the Kaledonia building, owned by Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd, resulting in a wrongful loss of over Rs 300 crore to Mack Star.
The ED said that their probe in the case revealed that Wadhawans illegally and fraudulently transferred one commercial property of Mack Star located in the Kaledonia building, Andheri East, Mumbai to Vikram Homes Pvt. Ltd, a company which is owned by Late Satya Pal Talwar and Dharam Pal Talwar, without any actual payment to Mack Star.
“Thus, Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan cheated Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd. by illegally selling the above-mentioned properties without the consent of the majority shareholder (DE Shaw Group which holds 83.36 per cent shares) of Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd,” the statement issued on Friday read.
ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs 203.99 crore. The total attachment in this case now stands at Rs 244.36 crore.