The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) has attached assets worth more than Rs 36 crore in a bank fraud case under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), pertaining to Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), and others.
The case involves Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, who are the promoters of Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL), along with other individuals associated with Mack Star Marketing Private Limited. The father-son duo were arrested in 2019 in a multi-crore money laundering case registered by the ED as well as the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai Police.
On Friday, the Bombay High Court granted Rakesh and Sarang Wadwan bail in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud case. In the latest loan fraud case involving Mack Star, a subsidiary of HDIL, the probe agency has relatives of underworld don Jayendra Thakur alias Bhai Thakur.
The current attached assets are in the form of commercial properties consisting of two office units at the Kaledonia building in Mumbai’s Andheri East, and shops in Veena Velocity Phase II, Palghar district.
The Enforcement Directorate initiated its probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mumbai, various sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, as well as others for siphoning off the loan to the tune of Rs 200 crore sanctioned by Yes Bank to Mack Star.
Further, on the basis of a complaint filed by Mack Star, a fresh FIR was registered wherein it was alleged that the father-son duo had illegally and fraudulently sold several office units in Kaledonia building owned by Mack Star, causing wrongful loss to the HDIL subsidiary of more than Rs 300 crore.
The allegation made in this FIR is also being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, along with the one registered by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The ED investigation revealed that Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan illegally and fraudulently transferred one commercial property of Mack Star located in Kaledonia building to Vikram Homes Pvt. Ltd, without any actual payment to the subsidiary company.
The Wadhawans cheated Mack Star by illegally selling the properties without the consent of the majority shareholder — DE Shaw Group which holds 83.36 per cent of Mack Star.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs. 244.36 crore and with the fresh assets, the total attachment amount currently stands at Rs 281.02 crore.
Also Read:
