New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made the fifth arrest in a money-laundering case linked to alleged illegal transfer of funds worth Rs 329 crore outside India using “fake and forged” import bills, the agency said on Wednesday.
Jatin Chopra was taken into custody on September 15 from his home in Haryana’s Gurugram, the ED said in a statement.
Chopra was arrested on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued by a court in July. The ED said it obtained the warrant from the competent court as Chopra “failed” to join the probe despite being summoned several times.
The money-laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.
The ED arrested Ashish Kumar Verma, Vipin Batra, Rupesh Batra and Mohan Madaan in the case in July.
The accused, according to the federal agency, incorporated 20 shell or dummy entities and opened multiple bank accounts that were used for “acquiring” foreign currency to the tune of USD 452,31,799 “on the strength of fake and forged documents” like PAN, Aadhaar and voter ID.
“The proceeds of crime were transferred abroad in the guise of payment for import of services.
“These persons were involved in a massive international racket/fraud in which foreign currency was being acquired and proceeds were transferred outside the country in a disguised manner through fraudulent means, causing threat to economic security and financial system of the country, and resulting in loss to various government departments and wrongful gains to the accused,” the ED has claimed.
Chopra and others employed a similar modus operandi for illegally remitting the proceeds of crime, mainly to Hong Kong and Singapore, on the strength of “forged” import documents.
They set up 10 shell entities and opened accounts in the Canara Bank. They transferred these “illicit” funds to Singapore and Hong Kong in the guise of third-party payments against fake import of garments from Bangladesh, the ED has said.
This way, the agency has said, proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 329 crore were acquired in the said bank accounts and then transferred abroad. PTI NES RC
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