ED attaches assets over Rs 480 cr in ponzi, mining scam cases
22 May 2015 5:52 AM IST
In the first case, the agency’s Kolkata zonal office, under which Odisha falls, issued orders attaching assets worth Rs 400 crore of three firms, their owners and associates in the Uliburu mining scam case which was also probed by Justice (<g data-gr-id="40">retd</g>) MB Shah Commission for alleged financial irregularities and corruption.
The agency, sources said, attached a number of immovable and movable assets of the accused firms in the case like Ms Deepak Steel, Ms Deepak Steel and Power and Ms Sneh Pushp and their directors like Deepak Kumar, Champak Gupta and Haricharan Gupta and a few others.
“The assets attached under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in this case largely include land and buildings spread across Odisha and Kolkata. The orders in this regard were issued to the accused in the case today,” sources said. The case pertains to <g data-gr-id="45">Uliburu</g> mines area located in <g data-gr-id="46">Joda</g> mining circle in Keonjhar district of the state where <g data-gr-id="47">largescale</g> alleged irregularities were detected by the state mines department a few years back.
Justice Shah Commission, which probed a number of mining scam cases in Odisha and Goa, had termed this particular case as “one of the biggest illegal minings ever” and recommended a CBI probe into the matter. ED had slapped PMLA charges after taking cognisance of the FIR filed in this regard by the Vigilance wing of the Odisha Police in 2012.
The agency had also arrested two persons in this case-- prime accused Deepak Gupta and his associate S Rout.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money had been reviewing the case for appropriate action to be taken by probe agencies like ED.
Odisha Vigilance department earlier had filed a charge sheet in this case against 23 persons and 2 firms in a special court in Keonjhar.
Deepak Gupta, the power of attorney holder of <g data-gr-id="31">Uliburu</g> mines in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, was charged by the Vigilance with having raised <g data-gr-id="32">ore</g> from the reserve forest area adjacent to the mines by shifting the lease boundary.
Gupta, who was given the power of attorney by B K Mohanty, the lessee of <g data-gr-id="36">Uliburu</g> iron ore and manganese mines, had illegally mined around 45.22 lakh tonnes of iron ore from <g data-gr-id="37">Uliburu</g> reserve forest and gained Rs 893.67 crore as profit during 2003-2010, the Vigilance had said in the charge sheet.
Court sends senior Zoom Developers’ official to ED custody
A senior private company official was sent to ED custody for ten days here, for allegedly taking Rs 410 crore loan from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraudulently, an ED official said. A special court sent Zoom Developers’ Secretary Sharad Kabra (53) to ED custody for ten days under the PMLA, after the agency sought his remand following his arrest yesterday, the official said. The official alleged that Kabra used forged documents to withdraw loans for foreign projects worth Rs 410 <g data-gr-id="69">cr</g>, but the company used the money for other purposes and failed to repay the loan to PNB.
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