DHFL's Dheeraj Wadhawan transferred Dubai's commercial properties to Iqbal Mirchi's son, ED investigation reveals
Sep 23, 2020
New Delhi [India], September 23 : Dheeraj Wadhawan of DHFL group and East Coast LLC allegedly transferred four commercial properties in Dubai, to late gangster Iqbal Mirchi's son Asif Iqbal Memon without any monetary consideration, Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation revealed.
According to an ED official, Dheeraj and East Coast LLC (DEC) transferred four commercial properties of an area totalling over 3000 sq ft in Marsa, Dubai, to Memon without any monetary consideration in 2015.
"The company also sold 10 commercial properties at Dubai's Business Bay financial district to Memon for 4.5 million Emirati Dirham (about Rs 9 crore), a discount of over 57 per cent on the prevailing market price," the official told ANI.
The ED has found the market price of these properties was AED 10.6 million (over Rs 21 crore), the official said.
Meanwhile, the ED has provisionally attached 15 properties in Dubai belonging to family members of Iqbal Mirchi under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
"These properties include one hotel namely Midwest Hotel Apartment and 14 other commercial and residential properties having a total value of AED 101.52 Million equivalent to Rs 203.27 Crore. Earlier, ED has already issued 2 Provisional Attachment orders in December 2019 attaching properties to the tune of INR 573 crore. Now the total attachment, in this case, has reached to Rs 776 crore," the ED said in a release.
The agency has registered money laundering case against Iqbal Memon alias Mirchi and others on September 26, last year under the provisions of PMLA.
In this case, five accused including Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and Humayun Merchant were arrested. A prosecution complaint has been filed on December 2019 before the Special PMLA Court and cognizance of the same has been taken by the Court. Open-ended Non-Bailable Warrants have been issued by Court against Asif Memon, Mr Junaid Memon (both sons of Iqbal Mirchi) and Mrs Hajra Memon (wife of Iqbal Memon).
Further investigation is in progress, ED said.
