Mumbai: Even though real estate tycoon Niranjan Hiranandani appeared before the the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday in response to a summons, his son Darshan is yet to do that. He had sought exemption till March 4 and that period has expired. The ED may send fresh summons to him. The officials want to cross check the information provided by Hiranandani Sr with Darshan.
Sources told the FPJ on Tuesday that Niranjan Hiranandani himself may be summoned again 'if required'. The ED probing a case for alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) by the father and son duo. The name of the Hiranandani group figured prominently in Pandora Papers case. Pandora Papers is the massive amount data collected and collated by an international consortium of journalists.
According to ED sources, Hiranandani and his family members were the alleged beneficiaries of an offshore trust, which had accumulated assets of more than USD 60 million.
Officials of the ED are now studying the statement given by Niranjan Hiranandani and if they are any information gaps they will resummon him. will get any query then they will decide that they will take call on resumons of Niranjan Hiranandani.
Darshan was recently at the centre of a controversy involving TMC M.P. Mahua Moitra. Darshan had alleged that he had paid cash and gifts to Ms Moitra in return for obtaining information through parliamentary queries about a large business group. Incidentally, the Delhi unit of the ED has summoned Ms Moitra on March 11.
ED Questioning For Over 10 Hours
The ED had quizzed Niranjan Hiranandani for over ten hours on Monday and recorded his statement in its office at Ballard Estate. Among other things, the ED asked him about fundraising from the European market under FDI schemes, alleged fund diversions, and regulatory non-compliances.
Emerging exhausted from the ED office, Niranjan Hiranandani told waiting newspersons, "I am fully cooperating with the agencies. The case is 15 years old. We have been cooperating with the agency and will continue to do so.We have answered the questions multiple times; it's related to FDI, and there's nothing new to the case. We were happy to answer; there were no new issues raised. I have been queried by the ED maybe 42 times; today is the 43rd time. If the violation was there, do you mean to say it was not spotted on the earlier 42 occassions? Whenever an issue is raised by any agency, I am very happy to cooperate because they are only doing their job."
According to sources, Niranjan Hiranandani is also being questioned about British Virgin Islands-based trust allegedly linked to the Hiranandani Group promoters.
Hiranandani Sr had earlier skipped the summon citing health concerns for his inability to appear before the agency, while Darshan had requested the agency to give him some time to join the probe.
It is alleged that investments of more than Rs. 400 crores, received in the form of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Hiranandani Group companies with real estate projects in Panvel and Chennai, were improperly routed. Agency indicate that the utilization of this amount did not comply with prescribed government guidelines.
