ED searches DLF’s Gurugram office in connection with money laundering probe against Supertech

Agency did not officially comment on DLF’s connection with the Supertech case. The searches are connected to the inquiry into the money diverted by Supertech builders, it is learnt.

Security personnel outside the Enforcement Directorate office | ANI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Saturday carried out searches at the Gurugram premises of prominent real estate company DLF in connection with a money laundering case registered against Supertech, its directors and promoters.

Sources in ED said that the searches were conducted to verify documents related to land purchases made by DLF from Supertech and a Haryana politician. The search did not pertain to accounts of DLF, they added.

“They provided us with the relevant documents that were required and cooperated fully,” an agency source said.

In a statement, DLF said that transactions were conducted in the ordinary course of business.

“Pursuant to the provisions of Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we would like to inform that a team of officials from the Enforcement Directorate visited our premises seeking information with respect to investigation being conducted in the matter of Supertech. The officials sought details of transactions relevant to the said investigation. The company extended full cooperation by providing them all relevant documents in this regard. We would like to re-iterate that the said transactions were conducted in the ordinary course of business,” it said.

“The company has always conducted its businesses in total compliance of the laws of the land and follows the highest standards of compliance and governance,” it added.

The ED case against Supertech lodged two years ago stems from FIRs registered in Delhi, Haryana and UP by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the local police accusing Supertech of hatching a “criminal conspiracy” to cheat home buyers.

In August this year, the ED also filed a chargesheet against R.K. Arora, chairman and promoter of Supertech, his company, and eight others in the money laundering case. They have been accused of defrauding at least 670 buyers of Rs 164 crore.

The ED arrested Arora on 27 June under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after he was questioned by the agency thrice. In October, a Delhi court had denied Arora ‘default bail’.

According to the ED, the agency is probing money laundering in connection with 26 FIRs and has found that Supertech and its directors cheated people by collecting funds from prospective home buyers as advance against flats that were never delivered.

According to the charge sheet filed by the ED, the money taken from the home buyers was then diverted. It is further alleged that the company also took project-specific term loans for the purpose of construction of housing projects that never materialised.

“These funds collected from people and also the bank were diverted and misappropriated for buying more land which was then pledged as collateral to borrow funds from banks,” the source quoted earlier said.

The Supertech group had also defaulted on payments to banks, ED said.

This report has been updated with DLF’s statement.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)