The Enforcement Directorate has seized movable assets worth about ₹25 crore during searches in connection with an alleged money-laundering case involving Pawan Kant Munjal, chairman and managing director of Hero Motocorp Limited, and others.
12 locations searched
On Tuesday, 12 locations were searched in Delhi and Gurugram in the case against Mr. Munjal, Hero Fincorp Limited and employees of Salt Experience and Management Private Limited (SEMPL), said the agency in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the ED, the exercise resulted in the seizure of foreign currency, cash, gold and diamond jewellery, besides documents and digital evidence, from the premises linked to the businessman, Hero Motocorp Limited and Hero Fincorp Limited, apart from Hemant Dahiya and K.R. Raman.
The agency is conducting the probe based on a prosecution complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue intelligence (DRI) under the Customs Act. The charge is “carrying, attempting to export and illicit export of prohibited items i.e. foreign currency”. Among those arraigned are Mr. Munjal, SEMPL, one Amit Bali, Mr. Dahiya and Mr. Raman.
Personal expenses
It is alleged that SEMPL illegally sent foreign currency equivalent to about Rs.54 crore to various countries from 2014-15 to 2018-19, which was ultimately used for the personal expenses of Mr. Munjal. The company issued foreign exchange worth about Rs.14 crore in the name of its employees, including Mr. Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj and Ketan Kakkar, over and above the annual permissible limit of $2,50,000 in various financial years.
SEMPL also drew foreign exchange or used travel forex cards in the names of other employees, who did not travel abroad. A key associate of Mr. Munjal illegally used overseas foreign currency equivalent to about Rs.40 crore to meet the businessman’s expenses during his personal/ business foreign trips, said the ED.
