NEW DELHI: In the biggest money laundering operations yet in the `1.86 lakh crore coal block allocation scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached assets worth `186 crore of a Hyderabad-based firm, Nava Bharat Power Projects Pvt Limited.
The firm has been charge sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged misrepresentation of facts and making fraudulent claims to “embellish” its application to get coal blocks allocated between 2006-2009, it was reported.
“The proceeds of crime totalling `186.11 crore were found to be re-invested by the Directors of Ms Nava Bharat Power Projects Pvt Ltd namely P Trivikrama Prasad in the form of 73,99,99,994 shares of Ms Nava Bharat Energy India Ltd valued at `147,99,99,988 for which the attachment value is of `138.59 crore,” ED said.
The decision to attach the firm is the second instance of action against accused firms in the scam. The first one was against a Nagpur-based firm valued at `24.50 crore underf the Prevention of Money Laundering Act .
ED also said that they had attached assets of another director of the firm Y Girish Chandra Prasad “in the form of 8.4 MW wind turbine generators at Rajasthan in the name of Ms Malaxmi Windpower Hyderabad valued at `45.19 crore for which the attachment is valued at `36.32 crore,” it was reported.
In its FIR filed on September 3, 2012, CBI had said that Nava Bharat and officials of the Coal Ministry had entered into a conspiracy and “willfully” not scruitinising documents to allow undue advantage for getting coal blocks allocated, it was reported.
Since then, the promoters of the company sold their shareholdings in Nava Bharat to Essar Power Ltd at a profit of over `200 crore. Essar is not named in the list of accused firms, it was reported.