The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth more than Rs 205 crore of a Chennai-based chemicals manufacturing company and its promoters.
The agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the properties of MGM Maran, MGM Anand and their company Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited.
The ED alleged that Maran, along with other directors and officials of the TMBL, “facilitated a deal for the sale of 23.6 percent shares of TMBL from Indian shareholders to unauthorised overseas persons”.
It further stated, “MGM Maran acquired undisclosed foreign investments of Rs 293.91 crore directly outside India during the same period. Such undisclosed investments were without the approval of RBI as well as from unexplained and highly dubious sources. In order to escape the reach of Indian laws, MGM Maran surrendered his Indian citizenship and obtained Cyprus citizenship.”
The ED added, “Not only that, it was also found that MGM Maran also started transferring his wealth from India to overseas in order to keep the same out of reach of the Indian law enforcement agencies in the garb of overseas direct investments from Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited.”
The company then filed a writ petition against the ED proceedings before the high court and obtained an interim stay on the proceedings by making “mis-representation” before the court. Hence, the agency said, it has attached assets in the form of the entire shareholding of Maran and Anand in all prominent MGM Group companies in India, land and buildings in Southern Agrifurane Industries Private Limited as well as Maran’s entire shareholding (3.31 percent) in TMBL that was recently listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
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