The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has held searches at seven premises in Delhi and Kolkata under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 in connection with illegal overseas fund transfers in the guise of payments for customised software imports using forged documents.
The investigation was based on an FIR registered by MVP police station here, following a complaint by the Income Tax department against Vaddi Mahesh and others. They were accused of conspiring to create forged documents and use them as genuine to make overseas remittances through various banks.
According to the ED, Vaddi Mahesh, along with his father and others, floated several companies with registered offices in Kolkata and opened bank accounts in their names. Through these accounts, `569.03 crore was transferred to five companies in Singapore, Hong Kong and China, purportedly for the purchase of customised software.
The ED said fabricated invoices issued in the names of foreign companies were submitted to banks and no software was imported against the remittances.
The investigation also revealed that Bhimendra Kumar Goyal, whom the ED described as a habitual offender detained three times under the COFEPOSA, was allegedly smuggling cosmetics, electronic goods and textile fabrics into India by evading customs duty. He had also allegedly misused the Customs Transit Declaration Scheme available for Nepal.
According to the agency, Goyal approached Vaddi Mahesh through his associates to make payments to overseas suppliers and launder the proceeds generated from the sale of smuggled goods.
The ED said its investigation showed that between 2014 and 2017, Mahesh received funds in the bank accounts of his shell companies from various entities and remitted them abroad on Goyal’s instructions.
The funds were allegedly parked in dormant or newly incorporated companies in Singapore and Hong Kong held by nominee directors.
The money was subsequently transferred to bank accounts held by Goyal and companies linked to his family members, M/s Swiss Fox Pte Ltd and M/s Bhav Technology China Limited, thereby allegedly projecting the proceeds of crime as legitimate funds, the agency said.
The investigation further revealed that Goyal, in collusion with Pawan Kumar Ralli, allegedly operated fake firms — M/s Mehak Overseas, M/s Karan Overseas and M/s Geet Enterprises — in fictitious names and at false addresses in New Delhi.
The ED alleged that part of the proceeds was also transferred abroad through M/s Village Handicraft Export and received by M/s Eagle Mount Trading Pte Ltd in Singapore, which was beneficially owned by Ashish Todi. The proceeds of crime in the case have been prima facie estimated at about `1,500 crore, the agency said.
The searches resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash, foreign currency comprising US$ 5,900, 2,200 UAE dirhams and 5,600 Chinese yuan, besides documents, records, property papers and digital devices. The ED said the seized material contained evidence of the alleged layering of proceeds of crime and their transfer outside India through shell entities.
Further investigation is under way.
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