CHENNAI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties of three persons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) accused in Taksheel Solutions Limited Initial Public Offer (IPO) scam.
The agency has attached properties worth Rs 12.11 crore belonging to Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia. Earlier ED had arrested all the three accused in the case. Nirmal Kotecha and Kishore Tapadia were granted bail by Telangana High Court on December 6 and Pavan Kuchana is still in judicial custody.
ED has initiated investigation on the basis of a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the provisions of SEBI Act, 1992, against Taksheel Solutions Limited, its promoters/directors and others for irregularities with respect to the IPO of 55,00,000 shares of Rs 10 each, for which issue price was fixed at Rs 150. The company raised Rs 80.50 crore through the IPO.
ED said its investigation revealed that the accused formulated a planned strategy to inflate the revenue of Taksheel for issuing IPO and subsequently diverting and siphoning off the IPO proceeds. To facilitate the issue of IPO, Nirmal Kotecha arranged for Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) of Rs 34.50 crore, ED alleged.
The funds were rotated through US based entities belonging to Pavan Kuchana and circular transactions were done with Taksheel Solutions before the IPO which resulted in incremental revenue and corresponding inflation of profitability, ED said. Subsequent to the IPO, the ICDs were repaid from the IPO proceeds.
The Directorate of Enforcement further said that out of the IPO proceeds of Rs 80.50 crore, Rs 34.50 crore was siphoned off to US based entities. Rs 30.15 crore was further transferred to Singapore / Hong Kong based entities from US entities. Another Rs 23 crore was transferred to Indian entities and eventually transferred to Nirmal Kotecha’s entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai.