ED attaches Rs 30.91 cr aircraft of Bhushan Airways in money laundering case
Jun 09, 2022
New Delhi [India], June 9 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a Cessna 525 A CJ 2+ Aircraft valued at Rs 30.91 crore belonging to Bhushan Airways Services Pvt Ltd, a company controlled and owned by Sanjay Singal Ex-Managing Director of Bhushan Power and Steel Limited (BPSL) in a money laundering case, the agency said on Thursday.
The attachment was made as part of ED's ongoing investigations against BPSL and others, under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on Wednesday.
Earlier, the ED had attached various immovable and movable assets valued at Rs 4,423.36 crore (including residential and commercial properties in London, Mumbai and Delhi) in this case. Thus, the total attachment, in this case, comes to about Rs 4,454.27 crore so far, said the ED.
The ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) dated April 5, 2019, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and section 13(2) read with 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against various suspects including Bhushan Power and Steel Limited, Sanjay Singal, the then MD BPSL and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery for purpose of cheating, use of forged documents as genuine, falsification of accounts and criminal misconduct by a public servant.
"Investigations by ED have revealed that Sanjay Singal generated proceeds of crime through siphoning of loan funds from BPSL and layered it through various entities under his control and such proceeds of crime were used towards acquisition of the Cessna 525 A CJ 2+ Aircraft as well as for repayment of the bank loan taken for acquiring the aircraft," said the ED.
The ED had earlier also filed a prosecution complaint or chargesheet before a special court against 25 accused and the court has taken cognizance of the offence.
"Further investigation is under progress," added the ED.
