NSEL money laundering case: ED seizes Rs 17 lakh cash, over 60 vehicles in raids

NSEL money laundering case: The Enforcement Directorate has seized Rs 17 lakh cash, 63 vehicles and investment documents of Rs 350 crore in fresh searches in connection with the NSEL money laundering investigation, the probe agency said today. The searches were launched yesterday at 16 locations against various defaulters in Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) , Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Bengaluru (Karnataka). Rs 17 lakh cash, 42 heavy commercial vehciles, 21 high-end cars such as Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover, Jaguar and Toyota Fortuner, and investment documents of Rs 350 crore have been seized and the valuation of these assets is being undertaken, the agency said.

The raids were conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against defaulter firms-- N K Protiens promoted by Nimish Patel and Nilesh Patel, Yathuri Associates promoted by Rahul Anand, Aastha Minmet India Pvt Limited promoted by Mohit Singhal and Lotus Refineries Pvt Ltd promoted by Arun Sharma. "These defaulters have total liability of Rs 2,798 crore out of total default of Rs 5, 500 in this case," the agency said in a statement. The ED, sources said, has gathered some fresh evidence recently and hence had undertaken the action. The ED, in the last few years, has attached assets valued at over Rs 2,800 crore in this case. The central probe agency, along with the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police, had registered a criminal case in 2013 under the PMLA to probe the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), defaulting firms and others associated with it.

The agency alleged that the accused persons in the said case hatched a criminal conspiracy to defraud investors, induced them to trade on the platform of NSEL, created forged documents such as bogus warehouse receipts, falsified accounts and thereby committed criminal breach of trust against about 13,000 investors to the tune of Rs 5,600 crore.

It had in March, 2015, also filed a 20,000-page charge sheet against NSEL and 67 others in a court here alleging that the NSEL funds were laundered and "illegally ploughed into purchase of private properties".

NSEL's payment troubles started after it was ordered by regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), in July 2013 to suspend spot trade in most of its contracts due to suspected trading violations. The exchange could not settle the outstanding trades, leading to investigations by the police and regulators to find out whether the exchange had defrauded traders by not enforcing rules requiring sufficient collateral to be set aside.