New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started returning to investors flats that were attached as part of a money-laundering probe into alleged financial wrongdoings by real estate firm SRS Group, a move that may reassure homebuyers in the National Capital Region.
Seventy-eight flats in Faridabad, Haryana, have been returned to investors thus far, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the agency said the ED had identified 450 “genuine” buyers since the process of restitution began six months ago.
These flats were attached as “proceeds of crime” in the probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against SRS Group chairman Anil Jindal and directors Jitender Kumar Garg, Praveen Kumar Kapoor and Vinod Jindal for allegedly diverting the funds of investors who bought flats or other real estate assets such as plots or commercial space.
The ED initiated a PMLA probe against Jindal and his associates based on 81 FIRs filed by the Haryana and Delhi Police, including those under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and 406 (criminal breach of trust) among other sections.
The ED attached these flats and several other properties worth Rs 2,215 crore in total in January 2020. In November 2022, the agency filed prosecution complaints against Jindal and others.
Incidentally, the ED has initiated a similar restitution process in West Bengal in a case involving the Rose Valley real estate group. In this case, the firm allegedly duped small investors with the promise of exorbitant returns that never materialised.
ThePrint had reported last week that an assets disposal committee (ADC) constituted by the Calcutta High Court will now initiate a plan to disburse Rs 12 crore to 22 lakh depositors, whose money was allegedly syphoned off by the promoters of Rose Valley Group.
‘Criteria-based process’
Sources in the agency told ThePrint that SRS Group’s “genuine” buyers moved several courts as soon as the ED initiated the process of attaching flats.
The sources said the onus of formulating a policy to identify genuine buyers and differentiating their properties from the “proceeds of crime” was put on the PMLA Appellate Tribunal.
“The tribunal asked the PMLA adjudicating authority to devise a mechanism to find out who were genuine buyers… it came up with a list of criteria,” an ED source told ThePrint.
Those who had taken possession, paid 95 percent of flat value, paid the property tax, wired money through banks and not cash or post-dated cheques were perceived as authentic purchasers.
“One very important criterion was that a flat should not be in possession of any entity or person related to the SRS group,” another ED source said.
The 78 flats returned so far are located in Faridabad and are valued at Rs 20.15 crore in total. The process is on to grant no-objection certificates to the remaining investors out of a total 450 identified so far.
“We’ll need the order of the Special PMLA Court for further identification of genuine investors,” another ED source said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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