ED attaches ITPCL’s shares worth Rs 452 crore held by Shell Company in Singapore

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 5

Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday it has issued a provisional attachment order under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to seize assets worth Rs 452 crore belonging to  AS Coal Pte Singapore, a Singapore based shell company owned by a British national Jaimin Vyas in a fraud case.

The attached assets are in the form of 8.86 per cent shares of ILFS Tamil Nadu Power Company Limited (ITPCL), which has a current market value of worth around Rs 452 crore.

The ED had initiated investigation under PMLA on the basis of FIR registered by Delhi Police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW), against IRL, ITNL, which are group companies of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), and their officials and others.

Investigation was also conducted by the Serious Fraud Investigation office (SFIO) and a criminal complaint has been filed by SFIO against IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) and its officials invoking section 447 of Company’s Act, 2013.

While probing the case, the Enforcement Directorate revealed that a well-planned conspiracy to defraud IL&FS and Indian Banks was hatched by Jaimin Vyas in connivance with official the infrastructure company and one Chinese EPC contractor, SEPCO III. The company’s right to select the EPC contractor was illegally delegated to Jaimin Vyas, violating the terms and conditions of share purchase agreement.

Jaimin Vyas thereafter nominated SEPCO as EPC contractor and got kick back in guise of fees for consultancy services. The same money was routed as equity investment in ITPCL.

Subsequently, ITPCL paid SEPCO III the amount (paid earlier by SEPCO to Jaimin Vyas) by inflating the value of the contract and payments were also made in the guise of early completion of the project, the ED said.

Further, investigations also revealed that Jaimin Vyas received illegal gratification from Noble Coal in lieu of awarding a coal supply contract (to ITPCL) at an inflated rate.