ED attaches Rs 65 cr worth assets in Naresh Jain hawala case

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 65 crore in connection with its money laundering probe against alleged hawala dealer Naresh Jain, the agency said on Monday.The attachment stems from a probe against Jain in a case linked to over Rs 560-crore illegal remittances which allegedly involved routing and re-routing of funds through various shell entities incorporated in India and other countries. The movable and immovable properties attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) consist of residential premises, project land and industrial plots in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

The total worth of these assets is Rs. 65.75 crore and they are in the name of Bimal Kumar Jain, Sunita Jain, Vijay Agrawal and the companies owned and controlled by Naresh Jain such as Graphic Buildcon Pvt Ltd, Arrow Buildtech Pvt Ltd, Season Buildwell Pvt Ltd and Konark Craft Pvt Ltd, the ED said.

Jain, 62, was arrested by the agency in September last year under the PMLA.

The ED said its probe found that the "proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 565 crore was generated as commission by Naresh Jain and his accomplices by providing hawala and accommodation entries through their shell entities incorporated in India and other countries”.

The scheme not only involved various persons but several entities incorporated in India and foreign jurisdictions and routing and re-routing of proceeds of crime through various processes and activities, the ED claimed in a statement.

The proceeds of crime have been layered through complex web of shell entities multiple times so as to avoid detection and hide the real source.Placement of proceeds of crime is done by introducing it in the financial system making it appear as if it is from a legitimate source in the form of loans and advances, share capital in the companies," it said.

These loans, investments, share capitals have been projected in the books of their companies as if they are received from a legitimate source, it said.

These proceeds of crime placed in financial system was used to acquire various assets (both moveable and immoveable), the agency alleged.The central agency filed a money laundering case against Naresh Jain and others after studying an FIR of the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police.It was found during the probe that “Naresh Jain, Bimal Kumar Jain, employees of Naresh Jain and others hatched a criminal conspiracy and committed forgery and cheating”.It claimed that the accused forged documents such as identity proof, birth and education certificates, voter ID, PAN card and signatures to incorporate hundreds of shell companies and entities in India and abroad.

"These shell companies were used to open and operate bank accounts for facilitating bogus, over-invoiced, under-invoiced import and export transactions, providing desired accommodation entries to known and unknown beneficiaries by rotating and layering of funds through web of these shell entities in order to cause undue benefit to the parties involved and loss to the exchequer and banks in lieu of commission," the ED alleged.