New Delhi, Mar 9 : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that it has attached seven sugar mills owned by Mohd Iqbal and his family members valuing about Rs 1097 Crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The present valuation of these seven sugar mills comes to about Rs 1097 Crore which were sold to Mohd. Iqbal and his family members at a throwaway price at Rs 60.28 Crore through disinvestment process in year 2010-11.
This probe into this disinvestment process was first initiated on the basis of investigations conducted by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Delhi relating to acquisition of assets through illegitimate means in 2010-2011 by Mohd Iqbal, ex MLC of Saharanpur and others through their shell companies Namrata Marketing Pvt Ltd and Giriasho Company Pvt Ltd.
These two shell companies participated in the bidding process of disinvestment of sugar mills of the UP government during 2010-11 and acquired seven sugar mills Laxmiganj Sugar Unit at Kushinagar, Bareilly Unit of Nekpur and Saidpur Village in Bareilly, Deoria Unit, Hardoi Unit Barabanki Unit, Ramkola Unit, Padrauna unit and Chhitauni Unit at Kushinagar through laundering of money from illegitimate source routed through various shell companies.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) also in its audit report of 2011 highlighted the administrative and financial discrepancies in disinvestment process of “Sale of Sugar Mills of Uttar Pradesh State Sugar Corporation Limited in the sale process of the f sugar mills at Bareilly, Kushinagar, Hardoi, Deoria and Barabanki which were acquired by Namrata Marketing P Ltd and Giriasho Company P Ltd (companies under the control of Mohd. Iqbal and his associates).
The CBI had also alleged in its FIR about the non-compliance of stipulated rules and procedures by the concerned Government officials during the sale of sugar mills to these companies.
During ED probe, the statements of key associates of Mohd Iqbal, accommodation entry operator and dummy directors of various companies were recorded. Evidences were also collected from banks, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, District Property Registration Authorities and Income Tax department.
“Further, search operations were also conducted at the residence of Mohd. Iqbal and his associates in Saharanpur and related premises in Delhi wherein incriminating documents, valuables and records were recovered”, the officials in ED said.
The further probe also revealed that during 2010-2011, Namrata Marketing Pvt. Ltd and Giriasho Company Pvt Ltd participated in the bidding process of Sugar Mills of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Chini Avam Ganna Vikas Nigam Limited (UPRCGVNL) and they suppressed the shareholding pattern and background of key promoters which were the stipulated conditions at the time of bidding.
It was also noticed that the funds were infused either into these companies through cash deposits made in shell companies’ bank accounts and further routed into these two companies through sham transactions or infusion of funds was disguised in the form of share application money for subscription to shares of these two companies at high premium”, the probe agency officials said.
The two companies in question had purchased seven shell companies, namely Ablaze Sugar Mills Private Limited, Adarsha Sugar Solutions Private Limited, Agile Sugar India Private Limited,Eikon Sugar Mills Private Limited,Majesty Sugar Solutions Private Limited, Mastiff Sugar Solution Private Limited and Okra Sugars Private Limited and treated them as their Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) which were eventually incorporated on the same date in 2011.
Further investigation in this case has been under process, the ED officials added.(UNI)