In a setback to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Panchkula has stayed further proceedings in the money laundering case against owners of IREO and M3M builders. The case has 53 accused entities, including several real estate firms. The detailed order is yet to be released in the case.

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Roop Kumar Bansal, one of the owners of M3M, had moved the application for a stay of further proceedings in the ED case, which was based on 30 FIRs, mostly by homebuyers in Panchkula, Mohali, Ludhiana, Delhi and Gurugram. He reasoned that there was no scheduled offence and hence PMLA case was not sustainable, adding that most of the FIRs were either quashed or cancellation reports were filed.

 Judge was suspended over bribery charges

The case came into limelight when the previous judge of the PMLA Special Court, Sudhir Parmar, was suspended over an FIR, registered in 2023, alleging that he demanded and took money to favour Lalit Goyal, and owners of M3M group, Roop Bansal and Basant Bansal.

As per the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Haryana, judge Sudhir Parmar was demanding Rs 5-7 crore for helping out the owners of M3M and it was claimed in the FIR that Rs 5 crore was paid to the Parmar by the accused

However, ED told the special court that the allegations put forth under FIRs already stand corroborated by investigation conducted under PMLA thereby establishing a prima facie case of generation and laundering of proceeds of crime derived from criminal activity of cheating and defrauding innocent homebuyers.

In the first prosecution complaint, filed in 2022, ED alleged that of 4,705 customers of IREO, almost 1,700 didn’t receive the flats or plots despite having made the payments. Of these, 1,175 customers didn’t get possession even after the lapse of more than five years. ED added that the IREO Group had transferred about “Rs 1,777.48 crore outside India in the last 10 years” in the guise of buyback of shares, redemption and purchase of shares in “contravention of FDI policy”. Due to the transfer, Indian operating companies got short of funds, and projects got stalled.

In the supplementary complaint, filed in 2024, ED alleged that Basant Bansal and Roop Kumar Bansal were MD and Director, respectively, of the M3M group in 2010 when the diversion of funds from IREO took place. One of the family drivers, Puran Bahadur, was made director in M/s Misty Meadows Private Limited on August 9, 2010, replacing Basant Bansal. The firm was involved in transactions with IREO.

ED alleged that funds worth Rs 404 crore flew from IREO firms to M3M Group via shell firms.