Advocate and CA involved in arranging the flow of criminal money: Properties attached in PMLA Case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 59 immovable and movable properties including 53 plots, commercial shops, Industrial plots, agricultural land located at Delhi, Noida, Sonepat (Haryana), Jalandhar, Hyderabad and balances in bank accounts having value of Rs.28. 67 Crore belonging to Sunil Dhupar, former CA and statutory auditor of M/s Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd (SBFL) & his family members/companies, Indeep Singh Arora & his family members and accommodation entry operator Devender Kumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the case of M/s Shakti Bhog Foods Ltd. (SBFL).

The ED launched a money laundering probe based on a FIR filed by the CBI against M/s Shakti Bhog Foods Limited and others for criminal conspiracy, defrauding, and criminal misconduct culminating in a Rs. 3269.42 crore bank fraud. Shakti Bhog Foods Limited used bogus sale-purchase bills from shell entities managed and controlled by Devender Kumar and other entry operators to syphon off loan funds and fictitiously increase the turnover of SBFL Group companies, despite the absence of any genuine business transactions.

Sunil Dhupar, CA, and Indeep Singh Arora, Advocate were involved in the settlement of SBFL’s SEZ Land Deal by arranging the flow of criminal money through bank accounts of family members and shell businesses.

Earlier in this case, the ED had conducted searches on various premises, and six people were arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002: Kewal Krishan Kumar, CMD of SBFL, Siddharth Kumar, Director of SBFL, Tarun Kumar, VP (Purchase) of SBFL, Raman Bhuraria, CA of SBFL, Ashok Kumar Goel and Devki Nandan Garg, both entry operators.

Three people are now in judicial custody: Siddharth Kumar, Tarun Kumar, and Ashok Kumar Goel. One Prosecution Complaint and three Supplementary Complaints were filed against the accused people before the Hon’ble Special Court, and the Hon’ble Court took notice of the offence against the accused persons. Previously, the ED had attached various immovable and movable properties of the accused and other entities with a book value of more than Rs.100.44 Crore. As of now, the total attachment in this case stands at Rs.129.11 Crore.

Further investigation is under progress.