Enforcement Directorate attaches Delhi farmhouse, Bikaner fort in Moin Qureshi case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached a Delhi farmhouse and an old fort in the border town of Bikaner in Rajasthan as part of a money laundering probe case against controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi and others.

The assets are "held" in the name of shell firms "controlled" by Qureshi, the ED said in a statement.

It said a provisional order for attachment has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the total value of the properties is Rs 9.35 crore.

"The immovable properties are located at Delhi, Rajasthan, Dehradun and Goa. The attached properties include a farmhouse located in Chhatarpur area of Delhi and an old fort in Bikaner district of Rajasthan," the central agency said.

The shell or fictitious companies identified by the agency are: Evershine Hospitality Private Limited, Skyrise Infratech Private Limited, Empire Sales Private Limited, Impress Estates Private Limited and Millennium Propcon Private Limited.

Based on a CBI FIR, the ED had a few years back filed a PMLA case against Moin Akhtar Qureshi, his company AMQ group, employee Aditya Sharma, Pradeep Koneru of Timex Group of companies, former CBI Director A P Singh, and other unknown persons and public servants.

The case related to criminal conspiracy, taking illegal gratification to influence various public servants and for exercise of personal influence with public servants and abuse of official position by the accused.

Qureshi is under the scanner of the ED and the CBI for his alleged dubious links with some former CBI directors including A P Singh, and for "influencing" CBI investigations against high-profile people in exchange of monetary and other considerations.

He has been arrested and named in a charge sheet by the ED in the past.

The ED said Qureshi "was in touch" with senior officers of CBI and he would collect money from different individuals either directly or through his agents such as Sathish Babu Sana to influence the cases being investigated by CBI.

"The proceeds of crime used to be laundered through various means such as expenditure abroad by Qureshi, his wife and their family members using money sent through hawala or expenditure on behalf of seniors officers.

"Another way of laundering was investment in properties, a major part of which used to be paid in cash," the agency alleged.

It has earlier attached assets worth Rs 3.34 crore in this case. Sana was recently arrested by the ED in this case.