The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday announced that it had attached assets worth more than Rs 205 crore belonging to a Chennai-based chemicals manufacturing company and its promoters, days after the Madras High Court refused to entertain the firm's plea against the action initiated by the central probe agency.
In accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency issued a temporary order to seize the assets of MGM Maran, MGM Anand, and their company, Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited, according to a statement.
The associated assets are valued a total of Rs 205.36 crore.
The Chennai Police's central crime branch initially began an investigation against Maran, a former chairman of
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited (TMBL) in 2007, and in response, the ED registered a criminal complaint under several PMLA provisions. The police case was lodged on the basis of a complaint from a private bank.
The ED said that Maran, along with other directors and officials of the TMBL, "facilitated a deal for the sale of 23.6 percent shares of TMBL from Indian shareholders to unauthorised overseas persons."
"MGM Maran acquired undisclosed foreign investments of Rs 293.91 crore directly outside India during the same period. Such undisclosed investments were without the approval of RBI as well as from unexplained and highly dubious sources," it said.
According to the ED, MGM Maran renounced his Indian citizenship and gained a Cypriot citizenship in order to evade the purview of Indian laws.
"Not only that, it was also found that MGM Maran also started transferring his wealth from India to overseas in order to keep the same out of reach of the Indian law enforcement agencies in the garb of overseas direct investments from Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited," it said.
The corporation, as per the agency, filed a writ petition against the ED proceedings before the high court in October and, by making "misrepresentations" before the court, was successful in getting an interim halt on the proceedings.
"The ED, in its detailed counter-affidavit, explained the entire background and facts of the case and the Hon’ble Madras High Court on December 19 dismissed the writ petition and upheld that the company, by making false declaration, has induced the bank to deliver valuable foreign exchange and such remittance in the hands of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the company, situated outside India, would constitute proceeds of crime," it said.
As a result, according to the agency, it has attached assets including land and buildings in Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited, Maran's entire shareholding (3.31 percent) in TMBL, which was recently listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and the combined shares of Maran and Anand in all noteworthy MGM Group companies in India.
(With inputs from PTI)
