Former Fortis Promoters booked by ED in money laundering case
The ED had alleged that both the brothers, along with others, transferred an amount of about Rs 1,000 crores to various persons from entities linked to the corporate loan book and finally, the money was siphoned off.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a charge sheet against former Fortis Healthcare promoters Shivinder Singh and his brother Malvinder before a Delhi court in a case related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd. (RFL).
The final report, filed before Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav, also named former CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd. (REL) Sunil Godhwani (58) as an accused.
In the charge sheet, filed by the ED's Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, the probe agency has accused all three of money laundering, punishable under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The court took cognisance of the charge sheet and issued a production warrant against them for January 20. All three accused are currently in judicial custody.
The ED also named RHC Holdings Pvt. Ltd. as an accused in its charge sheet.
It said the accused had acquired proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹150 crores through Star Artworks Pvt. Ltd., derived out of criminal activities and utilised the amount in repayment of its existing liability towards RFL by projecting it as untainted.
"Therefore, accused persons were involved in acquisition and utilisation of proceeds of crime generated out of criminal activities and its projection as untainted property, thereby have committed the offence of money laundering as defined under Sections of PMLA," said the charge sheet, filed through advocate A.R. Aditya.
The ED had alleged that both the brothers, along with others, transferred an amount of about ₹1,000 crores to various persons from entities linked to the corporate loan book and finally, the money was siphoned off.
The EOW registered an FIR after it received a complaint from RFL's Manpreet Suri against Shivinder, Godhwani and others, alleging that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.
"They put RFL in a poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies with no financial standing and controlled by them. The companies to which the loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of ₹2,397 crores," the police had alleged.
The RFL said in a press release that since the time the offence took place, the company has undergone a complete revamp of its Board of Directors.
"All efforts continue to be made to rebuild the business, mobilise fresh capital and correct the transgression and legacy issues of the past. The management and internal controls at the Group and all subsidiaries' level have also been revamped, bringing in much-needed assurance to employees about stable and action-oriented management," it said.
Read also: Court extends Shivinder's ED custody till Dec 26 in RFL money-laundering case
