ED attaches Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s assets in NSEL PMLA case

New Delhi, March 25

The ED on Friday said it had attached assets worth Rs 11.35 crore of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik in the money laundering case linked to the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL).

The federal probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of two flats and a parcel of land in Thane (near Mumbai) “held by” Sarnaik.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the NSEL case after taking cognisance of a 2013 FIR of the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police against its directors, key officials and 25 defaulters.

The accused hatched a “criminal conspiracy” to defraud the investors, induced them to trade on the platform of the NSEL, created forged documents like bogus warehouse receipts, falsified the accounts and thereby committed criminal breach of trust in respect Rs 5,600 crore of approximately 13,000 investors, the ED said.

The probe found that “the money collected from various investors was diverted by borrowers/trading members of NSEL for other activities like investment into real estate, repayment of outstanding debts and other activities”.