NEW DELHI: A Delhi-based businessman was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a case of money laundering against Delhi lawyer Rohit Tandon and others registered for converting money illegally during demonetization.
According to ED officials, accused has been identified as Yogesh Mittal, a businessman from the Model Town area, who was arrested on Monday evening.
The investigating agency is claiming that Mittal is involved in illegal conversion of demonetized currency worth Rs 51 crore in connivance with Tandon, a suspended Kotak Mahindra bank manager and an another person who acted as entry operator or illegal funds router.
“It was conspired amongst Kamal Jain, Tandon's CA, Mittal, Ashish Kumar (ex-bank manager), Raj Kumar Goel (entry operator) and others that demonetised currency would be collected and deposited in various accounts of the firms which have huge cash in hand and from those accounts Demand Drafts (DDs) in fictitious names would be issued. Later, these DDs would be cancelled to get the money back into the accounts, thus converting the demonetized currency into monetised currency,” the ED said.
Mittal has been sent to three-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by a Delhi court. During the proceedings, the counsel for the ED, Vikas Garg, had sought a 14-day remand of Mittal, contending it was needed to unearth the "conspiracy".
The ED took over the case and registered an FIR under PMLA after taking cognisance of Delhi Police crime branch FIR on alleged fake accounts with deposits worth Rs 34 crore. The agency has attached, under PMLA law, assets (DDs) worth Rs 41.65 crore in this case. Under the PMLA, the offence of money laundering is punishable with imprisonment ranging between three and seven year.