The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it has issued a seizure order under section 37A (1) of FEMA, 1999 against the estate of Goan mining baron late Anil Salgaocar and seized the shares held by this estate in connection with the foreign assets held by late Salgaocar outside India.
Before this, Income Tax department had also sent tax demand notices to the members of the family. The department had sent at least 5 notices to the Salgaocar family since 2021.
ED said, “The agency initiated investigation against late Anil Salgaocar on the basis of Panama Paper leaks and Pandora Paper leaks where it is alleged that the Anil Vassudeva Salgaocar, resident of Goa, had incorporated multiple BVI (British Virgin Islands) companies.”
ED claims that its investigation revealed that Salgaocar owned iron ore mines in Goa and Karnataka and the iron ore produced by these mines were sold/exported through his Indian group companies exclusively to the SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicle) in BVI and Singapore.
“These SPVs were not declared before Indian authorities and they acted as trading companies indulging in sale of iron ore produced in India to China which resulted in profit shifting outside India. The 5 BVI companies of late Anil Salgaocar derived profit amounting to around USD 690,650,641 (approx. Rs. 5,718 crore) through Salgaocar’s iron ore trading activities. The same was not declared before the Indian authorities.”
ED further stated that, "Hence by acquiring foreign exchange and holding assets outside India, Late Anil Salgaocar contravened the provisions of section 4 of FEMA, 1999 for a total amount of USD 69,06,50,641 (approx. Rs. 5718 Crore). Accordingly, the entire shareholding of Late Anil Salgaocar which has been transferred to estate of Late Anil Salgaocar, in all 33 companies which varies from .1% to 99.9% has been seized by ED. These said 33 companies own 441 immovable properties located mainly at Goa and few at Mumbai and Karnataka."
(Edited by : Pradeep John)
