Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at 11 locations, including the residence and offices of Hero Motocorp chairman Pawan Munjal and other senior management, resulting in the seizure of foreign currencies, gold, and diamond jewelry, including foreign-origin gold valued at ₹25 crore. The raids also yielded certain incriminating documents, digital evidence, hard disks, and mobiles.
The searches were carried out at premises in Delhi and Gurugram under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The investigation involves P K Munjal, Chairman & MD of Hero Motocorp Limited, Hero Fincorp Limited, and employees of Salt Experience and Management Pvt. Ltd (SEMPL).
The ED's investigations were initiated based on a case filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, which alleged an attempt to smuggle foreign currency out of India. The DRI had registered cases under the Customs Act against Pawan Munjal, Amit Bali, Hemant Dahiya, K R Raman, and others.
Agency Alleges Munjal Illegally Exported Foreign Currency for Personal Expenses
The anti-money laundering probe agency has accused Munjal of exporting foreign currency amounting to ₹54 Crore abroad between 2014-2015 and 2018-2019, allegedly for his personal expenses.
ED's investigation revealed that SEMPL was issued foreign exchange totaling ₹14 crore in the names of its employees, namely Hemant Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj, and Ketan Kakkar, exceeding the annual permissible limit of USD 2,50,000/- in various financial years. The probe further unveiled that SEMPL also obtained foreign exchange and travel forex cards in substantial amounts in the names of employees who hadn't even traveled abroad. This was done to allegedly export approximately ₹40 Crore worth of foreign currency, purportedly for Munjal's personal or business foreign trips expenses.
