Wednesday, February 14, 2018

I-T attaches Rs 380 crore city estate in benami & laundering probe 

Jayaraj Sivan | TNN | Updated: Feb 14, 2018, 06:23 IST

 


CHENNAI: In the continuing crackdown on money laundering and benami holding of assets, Income Tax department has attached the 4.3acre Firhaven Estate in the upmarket MRC Nagar, purchased by little known Aadhi Enterprises from serial investor C Sivasankaran for Rs380 crore in 2015, sources said. 

The I-T department had earlier frozen a bank account of Aadhi Enterprises with Rs70 crore balance. Aadhi Enterprises is promoted by city-based Sunil Khetpalia and Maneesh Parmar. The duo came under the I-T scanner after the Firhaven Estate acquisition which happened at a time when the Chennai real estate sector was under stress.

Recently, I-T sleuths also searched the premises of Edison Energy India Private Limited in which Khetpalia, as director, has invested Rs30 crore. One of the directors of Edison is a close associate of a prominent AIADMK leader.

Aadhi was incorporated only a year before it acquired Sivasankaran’s property. But without any significant business track record, it managed to raise Rs250 crore FDI from Pacatolous Investments Ltd, a Mauritius firm, after obtaining RBI nod. The investment helped Aadhi acquire the expansive Chennai estate.

Khetpalia and Parmar went on to take over a residential project promoted by city-based Landmark group on Perambur Barracks Road in October 2015.

Over dozen shell firms of Parmar being probed

The duo had invested in the project initially, which was partly funded by Edelweiss.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen shell companies operated by Maneesh Parmar are being probed by the I-T for suspected money laundering. Both have been appearing before I-T officials for inquiry in recent weeks.

I-T officials are also probing Khetpalia’s links with some prominent politicians including former ministers, for whom he had done liaison work.

He was a small-time financier till the AIADMK came to power in Tamil Nadu

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