ED raids 7 locations of IREO, M3M Groups in Delhi, Gurugram

Tribune News Service

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, June 5

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has carried out search operations at seven locations in Delhi and Gurugram, belonging to the IREO Group and M3M Group, for allegedly siphoning off home buyers’ funds.

Earlier, former CBI Judge Sudhir Parmar was suspended on April 27 over an FIR, for allegedly demanding and taking money to favour Lalit Goyal, key person of the IREO group, and owners of M3M Group, Roop Bansal and Basant Bansal.

Rich haul of high-end vehicles, jewellery and cash

• A total of 17 high-end luxury vehicles, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes Maybach etc, having acquisition value of Rs 60 crore, jewellery worth Rs 5.75 crore, Rs 15 lakh, incriminating documents, digital evidences and accounts books were seized in raids

Former CBI Judge was suspended on April 27

• CBI ex-Judge Sudhir Parmar was suspended on April 27 over an FIR, for allegedly demanding and taking money to favour Lalit Goyal, key person of IREO group, and owners of M3M Group, Roop Bansal and Basant Bansal.

As per WhatsApp chats’ screenshots provided by a source to 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 Parmar.

The ED found that out of the 4,705 customers of IREO, almost 1,700 didn’t receive the flats or plots despite having made the payments. Out of these, 1,175 customers didn’t get possession even after the lapse of more than five years. There were 30 FIRs against the IREO group and Lalit Goyal in Pinjore, Mohali, Ludhiana, Delhi and Gurugram for taking money from home buyers and not delivering flats.

The ED, in its complaint against the IREO group in 2022, said the 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 the FDI policy”. Due to the transfer, Indian operating companies became short of funds, their projects got stalled and some became insolvent.

The ED investigations have revealed that money was siphoned off through the M3M group also. In one of the transactions, the M3M group received about Rs 400 crore from the IREO group through several shell companies in multiple layers. The transaction was shown in the books of IREO as payments towards development rights. The land was owned by the M3M group and the market value of the land was around Rs 4 crore. The M3M Group initially sold the development rights of the said land to five shell companies for a payment of Rs 10 crore. It was claimed that the five companies were unrelated, but investigations showed that the shell companies were operated by the M3M group.

The five shell companies thereafter immediately sold the development rights of the same land to IREO Group for about Rs 400 crore.

After receiving Rs 400 crore from IREO Group, the shell companies transferred the amount immediately to M3M Group through multiple shell companies and layers.

All shell companies were owned and operated by M3M Group under the directions of its promoters Basant Bansal and Roop Kumar Bansal and his family members.

During the searches on June 1, promoters of the M3M group, namely Basant Bansal, Roop Kumar Bansal, Pankaj Bansal, and other key persons deliberately avoided investigations, said an ED spokesperson.

A total of 17 high-end luxury vehicles, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes Maybach etc, having acquisition value of approximately Rs 60 crore, jewellery worth Rs 5.75 crore, Rs 15 lakh and various incriminating documents, digital evidences and books of accounts were seized during the raids, added the spokesperson.

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