CHENNAI: A multi-storied residential building worth Rs 115 crore belonging to real estate developer VGN Developers has been provisionally attached by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for buying a public sector enterprise land below the guideline value.
ED Joint Director K S V V Prasad said the immovable property in the form of land to the extent of 10.46 acres at Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate in Guindy was purchased in 2013 from Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd, a Central government undertaking.
In 2009, SBI had initiated proceedings under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act for sale of the land after the HTL agreed to sell it to pay off the company’s debt.
The land was sold on March 15, 2013, by way of private treaty for an amount of Rs 272 crore. The allegation was that Leon Terattil, the then deputy general manager of Stressed Assets Management Branch, SBI, along with the then SBI chief manager Ramadoss and HTL chief operating officer D P Gupta, deliberately resorted to private treaty instead of public auction for disposing of the property. “No sufficient time was given to the other interested parties and no paper publication was made. The property was sold within a week after holding consortium meeting on March 7, 2013,” according to an FIR registered by the CBI.
The guideline value of the property in 2013 was Rs 387 crore, but VGN bought it for Rs 272 crore causing a loss to the Government of India, said Prasad.He said the Enforcement Directorate initiated investigation under the PMLA and identified the proceeds of the crime in the form of wrongful gain derived by VGN Developers, which has been integrated in the construction of multi-storied residential apartments at Guindy for sale to public in the name of VGN Fairmont.