ED attaches over Rs 150-crore assets of Unitech Group promoters

NEW DELHI: Properties worth over Rs 150 crore of real estate firm Unitech Group have been attached in a money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday. The assets include a dozen of land pieces measuring a total of 48.56 acres in Gurgaon near Delhi.

“The registered value of these land pieces comes to Rs 152.48 crore and these are owned by promoters of Unitech Group through proxy or benami entities like Crown Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, Kore Communities India Pvt Ltd and Joshu Gurgaon SEZ Pvt Ltd.”

“These three companies are part of one Trikar Group/Kore Group which is benami investment of the Chandra family of Unitech Group,” the ED alleged.

The present criminal case against Unitech Group and its promoters — filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) — is related to allegations that Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra had illegally diverted more than Rs 2,000 crore to Cyprus and Cayman Island.

The agency had raided 35 premises in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai recently as part of its probe into the case.

The agency claimed its investigation found that for “purchasing these properties, funds were transferred through Singapore-based companies like Joshu Pte Ltd, Trikar Residential Developers Pte Ltd and Trikar Property Opportunities Pte Ltd during 2015-2020.”

“The source of funds in these companies was from a Cayman Island-based entity namely Trikar Fund Limited (SPC) which is being controlled by the Chandra family through another Cayman-based entity Trikar Asset Management Ltd SPC,” it said.

The ED claimed that after analysis of seized records followed by the admissions of various persons, the “benami structure” (of companies) has been unravelled.

“It is highly likely that this benami investment is the part of the fund diverted to Cayman Island and Cyprus,” it said.

This ED case was filed after studying multiple FIRs filed by the Delhi Police economic offences wing (EOW) against the promoters and the company. One of the cases pertains to the accused allegedly failing to complete a housing project on time in Gurgaon.