ED attaches assets worth Rs 61.38 cr of erstwhile promoters of Bhushan Steel Ltd in money laundering case

New Delhi, November 9 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 61.38 crore of erstwhile promoters of Bhushan Steel Limited (BSL) in connection with a money-laundering probe, the agency said on Tuesday.
The attached assets consist of agricultural land in Maharashtra's Raigad and warehouses in entities under the control of erstwhile promoters of BSL, Neeraj Singal and B.B. Singal.
The federal agency attached the properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in its ongoing investigations regarding siphoning of public funds from BSL, Bhushan Energy Limited (BEL) and others.
ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of a complaint filed by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) in August 2019 under various provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 against BSL, BEL and others involving siphoning of public funds.
During the course of investigations under PMLA, the ED said, it was revealed that Neeraj Singal along with B.B. Singal and others had diverted funds from BSL through an elaborate and complex web.
Transactions were made through the way of routing of public funds in the garb of unsecured loans given by BEL to their associate companies, which were ultimately utilized for the acquisition of various immovable properties.
"The elaborate and complex web of transactions was structured to protect these assets as untainted," the ED said.