ED seizes ₹41.64 cr assets of Pune businessman at Ceejay House

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday seized three immovable properties located at Ceejay House, Worli, worth Rs41.64 crore under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, as part of its investigation against Zavareh Soli Poonawalla and his family members, who are named in the leaked Panama Papers.

The agency is investigating a case of misuse of Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) under the provisions of FEMA against Poonawalla and his family after their names figured in the Panama Papers, which detail financial and attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.

Probe claims bizman remitted foreign exchange by misusing LRS provisions

The investigation claims that Poonawalla and his family remitted foreign exchange abroad by misutilising provisions of LRS.

“From 2011-12, the family remitted money abroad under the pretext of maintenance and self-maintenance. None of the family members was living abroad or holding NRI status during the period,” an ED official said.

“The entire funds remitted under LRS were invested into Stallast Limited based in the British Virgin Islands,” the official said.

Stallast Limited allegedly used the funds to purchase four properties in the United Kingdom.

Properties seized bought through remitted funds

According to the ED probe, apart from mis-declarations in the remittances, Poonawalla and his family wrongly claimed these investments as foreign portfolio investments. “In reality the foreign entity was completely controlled by the Poonawala family. The foreign assets were not declared to the Reserve Bank of India,” the official said.

The properties were acquired through the funds remitted under LRS to avoid reporting to the RBI and thus the scheme was misutilised.

The equivalent value of properties held by Poonawala in India has been seized by the ED under the provisions of Section 37A of FEMA.