Hyderabad: ED files complaint against jewellers for money laundering during demonetisation
The ED investigation revealed that the accused used demonetisation to bleach their unaccounted black money into white and also to earn windfall profit.
Hyderabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint in the infamous demonetisation scam involving approximately Rs 111 crore. The amount was deposited in the banks immediately after the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016 by the city-based firms of jewellery businessmen – Kailash Gupta, Nitin Gupta and Nikhil Gupta.
Forty one entities/individuals including Chartered Accountants (CAs) have been charged with the offence of money laundering. They have been accused that they knowingly layered the amount into the bank accounts of Musaddilal Group to claim the same as untainted money, then converted the same into gold bullion which was further sold for profit, according to press release issued by ED on Tuesday.
The ED initiated money laundering investigation against Musaddilal Gems and Jewels Private Limited, Vaishnavi Bullion Private Limited, Musaddilal Jewellers Private Limited and others on the basis of an FIR registered by Telangana Police.
The ED investigation revealed that the accused used demonetisation to bleach their unaccounted black money into white and also to earn windfall profit. They blatantly created around 5,911 fictitious sale invoices attributing fake sales during the short relaxation period between 8 pm and 12 noon and deposited a whopping amount of Rs 111 crore in their bank accounts.
The major part of deposited black money belonged to the main accused and his family members and remaining was solicited from others on commission basis. They used a part of the amount to repay their loans, pay due taxes and used the remaining amount to buy gold.
This gold was further sold at a very high rate to earn even more profits. The ED has done extensive fund trail investigation and found that the total proceeds of crime generated in this scam was Rs 139 crore.
A provisional attachment order was issued on February 1, 2021, attaching both movable and immovable properties worth Rs 130.57 crore, which included jewellery worth Rs 86 crore, seized during the searches conducted by ED.
Two prosecution complaints were filed earlier by ED against 13 individuals/entities. On Monday, the ED has filed final prosecution complaint after extensive investigation and has charged the main accused Kailash Gupta, Nitin Gupta, Nikhil Gupta and their firms, their CAs, the gold bullion dealers, and also the major contributors of the black money, who were involved in this fraud, the press release added.
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