ED attaches Rs 99.26 crore assets of Amrapali-linked firm for duping homebuyers

In fresh action against real estate giant Amrapali Group the Enforcement Directorate ED provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 9926 crore for fraudulently diverting and misappropriating homebuyersrsquo funds an official said on SaturdayAs reported by news agency IANS the immovable properties attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA 2002 include the office and factory land and building of Mauria Udyog Ltd Mauria Udyog Ltd is one of the entities of the Sureka Group whose promoters are Navneet Sureka and Akhil SurekaThe investigation agency while issuing a statement said that the aggregate fair market value of the seized office and factory land and building was Rs 9926 crore as of December 30 2016 as per IANSThe ED has now passed a total of six Provisional Attachment Orders including the present one under Section 51 of the PMLA 2002 attaching properties having a cumulative value of Rs 30308 croreThe ED Lucknow Zonal Office initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered at different police stations in Gautam Buddha Nagar Uttar Pradesh and EOW Delhi Police and also pursuant to a Supreme Court orderEarlier on July 23 2019 the Supreme Court passed the order in the Bikram Chatterji versus Union of India matter that was related to petitions filed by aggrieved homebuyersAllegations on Amrapali GroupsThe allegations were that the Amrapali Group collected huge sums of money from homebuyers failed to deliver possession of flats within the stipulated time and fraudulently diverted and misappropriated the homebuyersrsquo funds by adopting a criminal conspiracy involving bogus transactions forgery and cheatingAs per IANS the investigation agency also revealed that the accused persons their associates and promoters namely Anil Kumar Sharma Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar directors of the Amrapali Group in connivance with Navneet Sureka and Akhil Sureka directors of Mauria Udyog and Jotindra Steel and Tubes Ltd diverted homebuyersrsquo funds through nongenuine and fraudulent transactions under the guise of procurement of TMT bars and construction materialThe ED also said that the funds that were misused by the accused were layered through a complex web of shell entities and bogus suppliers withdrawn substantially in cash and irreversibly dissipated thereby generating and laundering the Proceeds of Crime POCHowever it has been established that an amount of Rs 11039 crore was diverted to Mauria Udyog representing POC generated from the money collected from Amrapali homebuyersAs the original proceeds of crime were dissipated and no longer available for direct attachment the ED has attached the immovable properties of Mauria Udyog on the principle of ldquovalue thereofrdquo under the PMLA 2002 in order to secure the POCSo far the ED has filed six prosecution complaints in this case arraigning 33 individuals and entities as accused as per IANSWith inputs from IANS