ED attaches Rs 54.24-cr assets of IFFCO Managing Director Udai Shankar Awasthi

New Delhi [India], September 28 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable assets valued at Rs 54.24 crore belonging to Udai Shanker Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO, the agency said on Wednesday.
The assets included mutual funds, equity shares, bonds and bank balances. The action was taken under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) on September 22.
Earlier, the ED had attached immovable and movable assets valued at approximately Rs 100 crore in this case. Thus, the total attachment, in this case, comes to Rs 154.24 crore so far.
Investigation under PMLA was initiated on the basis of the registration of a case by the Central Bureau of Investigation dated May 17, 2021, against various suspects including Awasthi, Pankaj Jain, promoter of Jyoti Trading Corporation and Rare Earth Group, Dubai, his brother Sanjay Jain, Amarendra Dhari Singh, and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct.
Investigations by the ED have further revealed the generation of proceeds of crime which had travelled from various entities, having business interests with IFFCO and IPL, to the entities controlled by Rajiv Saxena of Rare Earth Group, which were projected as Commission Income and the same were further layered and parked in various entities under the control of various persons including Amol (son of Udai Shanker Awasthi) or to these persons themselves and projected in their hands as genuine income and expenses.
ED had also filed a Prosecution Complaint before a Special Court on July 30, 2021, against six accused and the court had taken cognizance of the offence. The court further held that all accused persons knowingly assisted were knowingly involved in the acquisition of proceeds of crime and hence were liable to be summoned for the said offence and proceeded to issue summons to the accused persons.