NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached three Delhi-based immovable properties worth Rs 24.95 crore of Pawan Kant Munjal, chairman and managing director of Hero MotoCorp Ltd.
Munjal has been charged with illegally taking out foreign currency worth Rs 54 crore out of the country.
The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 against Munjal and others for taking foreign exchange/currency out of India illegally.
The ED investigation found that Pawan Kant Munjal got foreign exchange/foreign currency issued in the name of other persons and thereafter utilised the same for his personal expenditure abroad.
The foreign currency/ foreign exchange was drawn from authorised dealers by an event management company in the name of various employees and thereafter handed over to Pawan Kant Munjal’s relationship manager. The relationship manager carried such foreign currency/ foreign exchange in cash/ card secretly, for the personal expenditure of Pawan Kant Munjal during his personal/ business trips.
“The modus operandi was adopted to override the limits of USD 2.5 Lakh per annum per person under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme,” says the ED in a statement.
The ED had earlier conducted search operations on August 1 on Munjal and related entities/persons and seized valuables worth Rs 25 crore along with digital evidence and other incriminating evidence. The total value of seizure and attachment stands at about Rs 50 crore.