Money Laundering

Money laundering case: Shilpa Shetty, husband challenge ED notices in HC

Actor Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra have moved the Bombay High Court challenging ED's notice directing them to vacate their house in Mumbai's Juhu area and a farmhouse in Pune in connection with a money-laundering case. The pleas came up for hearing on Wednesday before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan. The court issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday. Their petitions challenge ED notices dated September 27 issued to Shetty and Kundra directing them to evict their residential premises here and a farmhouse in Pune within ten days in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged Bitcoin fraud. The couple's advocate Prashant Patil said that Shetty and Kundra received the eviction notices only on October 3. He termed the notices arbitrary and illegal and sought them to be quashed. According to the pleas, there is no grave urgency for the petitioners to vac

Delhi Court grants bail to Lalu Yadav, sons in land-for-jobs case

Land-for-jobs case: Delhi court grants bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav and sons

RJD chief and former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his sons, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, were granted bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh each

Singapore announces new measures to tackle money laundering activities

Singapore intends to flag and strike off companies that are inactive, increase data sharing across government agencies, and from next week educate non-regulated sectors

Mahadev betting app case: SC gives bail to Chhattisgarh businessman

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave bail to Chhattisgarh-based businessman Sunil Dammani, arrested by the ED in August last year in a money laundering case linked to the Mahadev illegal gambling app, and said it was doing so without getting into the merit of the allegations. A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted that Dammani has been in custody since August 23, 2023 and set aside the Chhattisgarh High Court order denying him bail. "Without saying anything on merits, we are of the view that the appellant may be released on bail subject to bail conditions. "Appellant is ordered to be released on bail if not required in any other investigation, subject to the condition that he shall mark his presence every 15 days at the ED office in the concerned district. The appellant shall not leave the country without prior permission of the trial court," the bench said. As the hearing commenced, Dammani's counsel, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, told the court that the ...

MUDA case: Complainant appears before ED to give evidence, produce records

Social activist Snehamayi Krishna, one of the complainants in the alleged MUDA 'scam' case, appeared before the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) here on Thursday to give evidence and produce records in connection with the investigation initiated by the federal agency, sources said. The ED on September 30 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR by police, against the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority). The ED, which had taken cognisance of the FIR registered against the Chief Minister by the Lokayukta police on September 27, had summoned the Mysuru-based RTI activist to appear in person before the investigation officer at Bengaluru Zonal Office of the ED to give evidence and produce records in connection with the probe or proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the sources said. Based on Krishna's ...

Mahadev app case: SC to hear bail plea of Chhattisgarh bizman on Oct 3

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on October 3 a bail plea of Chhattisgarh-based businessman Sunil Dammani, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in August last year in a money laundering case linked to the illegal gambling Mahadev app. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was urged by the counsel for the jailed businessman that the bail plea needed to be heard urgently. "We usually do not skip the board (cases listed for hearing on a given day), but this is a bail plea... We will hear it on Thursday," the CJI said after Damani's lawyer said that his client has been in jail for over 13 months. On August 23 last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Dammani along with three others for their alleged involvement in the Mahadev app money laundering case. The central probe agency had also conducted searches at the properties of 10 people including Vinod Verma, political advisor to former Chhattisgarh ch

ED books Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in MUDA-linked money-laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday booked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and some others in a money-laundering case linked to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, taking cognisance of a recent state Lokayukta FIR, official sources said. The federal agency has filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book the chief minister and others, they said. Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27. The FIR was lodged after a special court in Bengaluru last week ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case. The order of the special court judge came a day after the high court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegaliti

Enforcement Directorate and Binance crack down on Fiewn gaming app scam

The money was laundered using digital wallets linked to a global cryptocurrency exchange

India's gems, jewellery sector vulnerable to money laundering: FATF

The ease with which the trade of precious metals and stones can be used to move "large amounts" of funds without leaving an ownership trail shows this sector in India is vulnerable to be used as a tool for money laundering and terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has said. The Paris-headquartered global body said in its mutual evaluation report for India released on Thursday that the money laundering (ML) risks associated with the "smuggling and dealing" in precious metals and stones should be "further developed" given the size of this sector in the country. The report said there were approximately 1,75,000 DPMS (dealers of precious metals and stones) in the country but its apex body-- Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) only had 9,500 members. Certificate of being a GJEPC member along with tax registration is mandatory for undertaking import or export of gems trade in India. Currently, there are "shortcomings" in risk understanding, particula

India to adopt nuanced approach to deal with at risk NPOs after FATF report

India on Thursday said it will adopt a "nuanced" approach to deal with "at risk" non-profit organisations (NPOs), an issue raised by the global crime watchdog FATF in its report which has otherwise appreciated India for its efforts to tackle terror financing and money laundering. Additional Secretary (Revenue), Finance Ministry, Vivek Agarwal said India has excelled on 6 'immediate outcomes' of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), including in risk, policy and coordination, international cooperation, financial intelligence, confiscation and proliferation financing. On the five other parameters, including abuse of NPOs and terror financing sanctions, as well as prosecution of money laundering and terror financing cases India has got a medium rating. As regards the abuse of NPOs for terror financing, Agarwal said the scope for NPOs being misused is very less in India because there is a cap on cash donations. "We were trying to make a case that regulatory framework is good enough..

ED gets max tip offs for money laundering from media, social sites: FATF

Open source inputs like media reports, social media comments, tip offs and complaints form the bulk of information that leads the ED to identify potential money laundering cases, the FATF said on Thursday in its latest mutual evaluation report for India. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which steers the combat against money laundering and terrorist financing crimes, also lauded India's systems and regime created for this battle as it asked the country to bring about "major improvements" to strengthen prosecution in such cases. "The largest number of money laundering investigations are identified by ED (Enforcement Directorate) from open sources; from the general public, media reporting and information from social networks followed by verification of the information via the CCTNS (crime and criminal tracking network and systems) database and money laundering reports by LEAs (law enforcement agencies)," the report said. The FATF said the ED uses "seven avenues" to identify ...

FATF praises India's PMLA, terror financing; asks to improve prosecution

Global anti-money laundering and terror financing body FATF on Thursday launched its much-awaited mutual evaluation report on India, saying the county's systems were "effective" but "major improvements" were required to strengthen prosecution in these cases. The 368-page report was released after the assessment was adopted by the Paris-headquartered body at its June plenary meeting. The last such review of India's combating of money laundering and terror financing regime was published in 2010. The report, which comes after an on-site visit of FATF experts to India last November, has placed the country in the "regular follow up" category, a distinction shared by only four other G20 countries. India will undergo its next evaluation in 2031. The report said India implemented such an anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terror (CFT) system that was effective in many respects. It, however, said "major improvements" were required to strengthen the prosecution in money

Delhi Court discharges Ambience Group promoter Raj Singh Gehlot in ED case

Raj Singh Gehlot, promoter of the Ambience Group, was arrested on July 28, 2021, in connection with the money laundering case related to alleged bank loan fraud

Govt pitches for more disclosures on cross-border payments with FATF

India is pitching for greater disclosures by fintech firms, credit card companies and payment aggregators (PAs) at the Financial Action Task Force whereby the sender and recipient in a cross-border financial transaction can be identified and shared with law enforcement agencies as and when sought. Currently, the Travel Rules of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) under which data relating to name of sender and recipient and the country of origin is recorded in any cross-border financial transactions. The policy development group (PDG) of the FATF is now deliberating on whether the required information is clearly available to law enforcement agencies or does the information gets masked in any form. Masking of information leads to delay in information sharing by financial institutions involved in cross-border transactions with law enforcement agencies. "The debate is whether the standards need to be tweaked further so that information can be clearly provided in case of cross-border wir

Crime watchdog FATF to release mutual evaluation report of India on Sep 19

Global crime watchdog FATF will highlight the steps taken by India to counter terror financing and money laundering, and flag priority action areas in the 'mutual evaluation report' to be released on September 19, official sources said on Tuesday. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had in June adopted the mutual evaluation report on India and placed the country in the "regular follow-up" category -- the highest rating given by the global watchdog and a distinction shared by only four other G20 countries. Countries rated under the 'regular follow-up category' are required to submit a follow-up report to the FATF once in three years on a voluntary basis. Out of 40 parameters looked into by the FATF, India received the highest rating in 37 parameters, official sources said. "Priority action points will be given by the FATF in the September 19 report," sources said, adding that on most of the parameters, India would be getting a positive rating in the report, while there would be f

Kejriwal party to criminal conspiracy in excise case, says CBI; AAP refutes

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was "party to the criminal conspiracy" of the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy since the beginning, the CBI has alleged in its latest supplementary charge sheet in the case. Concluding its probe with the submission of the fifth and final charge sheet in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Kejriwal already had a "pre-conceived idea of privatising" the excise policy, which was scrapped after allegations of corruption surfaced. "He (Kejriwal) demanded monetary support for his party AAP in the month of March 2021, when the policy was being formulated by the GoM headed by the co-accused Manish Sisodia. "His close associate and in-charge of media and communication of AAP (and) accused Vijay Nair was approaching different stakeholders of the Delhi excise business and demanding illegal gratification from them in lieu of a favourable excise policy," the agency has alleged. The AAP has denied the ...

Court to rule on summoning Lalu, Tejashwi in money laundering case today

On July 6, the Rouse Avenue court granted time and directed that ED shall file additional/ concluding charge sheet

ED raids houses of RG Kar's ex-principal Ghosh, aides over irregularities

ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe money laundering charges against Sandip Ghosh

Excise policy scam: SC begins hearing Kejriwal's plea against CBI arrest

The Supreme Court on Thursday commenced hearing on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's pleas seeking bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI in the alleged excise policy scam. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the chief minister, told a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan that Kejriwal was not named in the CBI FIR and moreover, he is not a flight risk. Singhvi said the top court, while granting interim bail in the money laundering case, had said the chief minister was not a threat to society. What started in August, 2023 has led to arrest in March this year in the money laundering case, he said, adding the top court and a trial court have already granted him bail. The hearing is underway. The top court had on August 23 allowed the CBI to file its counter affidavit in the matter and gave two days to Kejriwal to file a rejoinder. Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions challenging the denial of bail and against his arrest by the CBI in the case. He h