New Delhi: Backing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into alleged diversion of money from home buyers by the real estate group IREO, the Delhi High Court Wednesday junked a plea for a court-monitored probe and slapped a fine of Rs 1.25 lakh on the petitioner.
Additionally, the court dismissed allegations of ED inaction against the firm regarding the diversion of loan amounts from banks, after it submitted that banks had not filed any such criminal complaint against the firm.
The court was hearing five petitions by advocate Gulshan Babbar, who had moved these repetitive pleas seeking a CBI investigation against the real estate firm and its directors Lalit and Sapna Goyal for diverting the company’s funds to shell companies.
Babbar had also sought the court’s directions to the ED for proceedings against the alleged diversion of Rs 600 crore of public money through a shell company to a Mauritius-based firm owned by Goyal.
Goyal generated proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 4,246.22 crore, which is significantly higher than the assets worth Rs 1,376 crore attached in this case so far, he alleged.
The HC imposed the Rs1 lakh-plus fine for filing five petitions on the advocate, who had not mentioned the pending petitions filed previously and misleaded the court saying that he was a home buyer who had invested in an IREO project.
ED counsel Zoheb Hossain argued that since the petitioner is not aggrieved due to IREO’s offence, he does not have a stake in seeking directions from the court in the matter.
The agency submitted that it is aware of all the allegations levelled in the petitions, except for the alleged diversion of a Rs 600 crore loan amount, as this is not part of the money laundering investigation because the banks have not filed any case in this regard.
“ED has stated that the loan transaction of Rs 600 crore and its alleged illegal diversion though to its knowledge has not been made a part of the instant PMLA case as the lender banks have not filed any criminal complaint with any LEA (law enforcement agency) and, therefore, in the absence of any registered predicate offence, this transaction is not part of a scheduled offence and the PMLA provisions cannot be invoked to investigate the said transaction,” Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said.
The judge noted that the petitioner failed to contest the ED’s submission on the reason behind the alleged diversion of funds not being part of the probe and the overall value of the attachments in this case.
“The facts placed on record reveal that the ED is pursuing the investigation at the instance of the homebuyers and the same is being monitored by the special court, Panchkula. The petitioner has not alleged any inaction by the ED qua the complaint of the home buyers. The ED has also placed on record facts showing that appropriate attachment orders for the identified proceeds of crime already stand issued,” Justice Arora observed.
“In these facts, the court is of the considered opinion that no case for a further court-monitored investigation or issuance of directions for further attachment in these proceedings by the ED has been made out by the petitioner.”
The ED’s money laundering case against the IREO group and its directors stems from multiple FIRs in Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi, based on complaints from homebuyers who alleged cheating and forgery.
Subsequently, the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in 2021 and arrested Lalit Goyal. During the investigation, it found the illegal diversion of customer funds worth Rs 404 crore to the M3M group of companies and arrested its director, Roop Bansal. So far, the ED has filed two prosecution complaints as well as attached assets worth Rs 1,317.3 crore.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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