New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday claimed to have seized Rs 10 lakh, incriminating records and digital devices during raids conducted at 16 places in Rs 400 crore foreign remittance case, the agency said.
ED’s Jaipur zonal seized the cash and incriminating materials during searches conducted on March 7 at sixteen locations in Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Noida and Mumbai under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the money laundering investigation related to a case wherein huge illegal foreign remittances have been made in lieu of the gold, diamond and precious stones smuggling.
The ED said it initiated an investigation on the basis of various complaints filed by Customs (Preventive), Commissionerate, Jodhpur u/s 132 and 135 of the Customs Act, 1962, before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offences), Jaipur, which revealed that approximately Rs 400 crore were remitted to various overseas entities based in Hong Kong and UAE through various bank accounts of Belstar Techno Solution (OPC) Pvt Ltd and Visual Bird Technology, after routing through a web of multiple shell companies, in the guise of the import of services that were never received.
However, the agency said, in actuality, the funds were remitted outside India against the illegal import of gold, diamonds and precious stones.