ED seizes Rs 16 crore of Hyderabad-based company Alphageo under FEMA
Nov 23, 2022
New Delhi [India], November 23 : The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Wednesday said it has seized Rs 16 crore, belonging to Alphageo (India), in the form of fixed deposit under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA, 1999).
An investigation against Alphageo India (M/s Alphageo) was initiated by the agency on the basis of information received that the firm had transferred and parked certain funds in the United Arab Emirates in contravention of the provisions of the FEMA, 1999.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Alphageo is a Hyderabad-based company which is engaged in providing seismic survey services to various oil exploration and production companies in India and abroad.
The company has been importing various equipment for seismic data acquisition from several suppliers based in France, Singapore, and the Netherlands, among others.
The investigation further revealed that equipment for seismic data acquisition was directly received from various suppliers by Alphageo, however, the payment for the same has been routed through an entity Matrix Group DMCC, which was maintained and controlled by Rajiv Saxena, a chartered accountant based in Dubai and a hawala operator for these imports.
Further investigation revealed that by way of over-invoicing import bills for these imports Alphageo has parked funds into the account of Matrix Group DMCC for the personal benefit of Dinesh Alla, Chairman and Managing Director of Alphageo (India) in contravention of provisions of FEMA Act, 1999.
Investigation revealed that an amount of $25,34,628 was held outside India in contravention of Section 4 of FEMA, 1999.
Therefore, the equivalent value of the foreign funds parked in the United Arab Emirates by Alphageo amounting to Rs 16 crore has been seized in India under Section 37A of FEMA, 1999.
