A special court on Friday summoned alleged Red Sanders smuggling kingpin Badshah Malik in a money laundering case arising out of monies generated from his smuggling business.
The court summoned him and his co-accused as it took cognizance of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) chargesheet against them filed this month. The case was initiated by the agency on the basis of a complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) following a seizure of Red Sanders in 2015. Malik was allegedly involved in smuggling of Red Sanders from 2008 to 2010 and thereafter, again from 2014 onwards till 2015. He had managed to smuggle out the wood worth Rs. 48 crores before the DRI seizure of 2015.
As per the ED’s case, he had laundered the money in the guise of share subscription premium of a firm M/s. Empire India Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. received from five Benami companies controlled by a CA alleged to be an entry operator. The payments are said to be credited to the accounts of the firm from where they were transferred to the personal accounts of the directors and their relatives including of Malik. The smuggling kingpin is alleged to have received Rs. 9.86 crores in his account from the firm.
Special Judge MG Deshpande said in his order that investigation prima facie established that accused Badshah Malik and others have committed an offence of money laundering by generating proceeds of crime, its placement, layering and integration. There are sufficient grounds to take cognizance and direct issuance of process, it stated.
