Enforcement Directorate attaches 'benami' entities in Unitech group PMLA case

New Delhi, November 13

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Assets worth Rs 18.14 crore belonging to alleged benami entities of the Unitech group have been attached under the anti-money laundering law, the Enforcement Directorate said.

The attached properties include a Gurugram-located multiplex, six commercial properties in Gurugram and Lucknow and two dozen bank accounts and fixed deposits.

The book value of these assets is Rs 18.14 crore, it said.

“These assets are in the name of Enova Facility Management Services Private Limited and FNM Property Services Private Limited which are benami entities of the Chandras (Unitech promoters Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra),” the agency said in a statement.

It alleged that these two benami entities were “managed by Chandras through their close confidants and the assets attached were acquired/created from the proceeds of crime diverted from the Unitech group”.

A benami transaction is an arrangement in which a property (movable or immovable) is transferred to or held in the name of one person (benamidar), but is actually owned and enjoyed by another person (beneficial owner).

This money laundering case is based on a number of Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and CBI FIRs filed by homebuyers against the Unitech Group and its promoters.

The ED filed a criminal case under various sections of the PMLA early this year against the Unitech group and its promoters over allegations that the owners — Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra — illegally diverted over Rs 2,000 crore to Cyprus and the Cayman Islands.

The total attachment of properties in this case now has reached Rs 690.66 crore.

Last month, the ED had arrested Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra, his daughter-in-law Preeti Chandra and another executive of a company in this case. PTI