BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru zonal office, provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 21 crore in the case of illegal iron ore export involving Satish Sail and others through Shree Mallikarjun Shipping Pvt Ltd. (SMSPL), Goa.
The properties were attached on November 6, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the ED stated in a press release on Saturday.
As per the LEA chargesheet, forest department officials had visited Belekeri Port on March 15, 2010, and found a large quantity of iron ore within the port area.
During the inquiry, they found that certain iron ore stocks had no valid permits and passes issued by the Department of Mines & Geology and forest department. They had conducted a mahazar, and seized around 5lakh tonnes of iron ore fines.
Earlier, ED had conducted a search under Section 17 of the PMLA, in Karnataka, Goa, Delhi and Mumbai, covering 15 premises, and arrested Satish Krishna Sail. It also seized cash and gold worth around Rs 8 crore from Sail.
Later, he was granted interim medical bail which was cancelled by the Special Court on November 7. Sail, MD of SMSPL, had claimed to have purchased seized iron ore fines at Belekeri Port, weighing approximately 1.54631 lakh tonnes, from various suppliers involved in iron ore trade.
Subsequently, Sail, in collusion with a port conservator, had exported illegally procured seized iron ore to China through vessels like MV Columbia and MV Mandarin Harvest, through layering by opening one more company in Hongkong.
The attached property includes 12,500 sqm of open land in Chicalim village, Mormugao, 16,850 sqm of agricultural property known as ‘Pedro Galle Cotta’, Mormugao taluk, South Goa, and commercial premises on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth floors of Our Lady of Merces Building, opposite Kadamba Bus Stand, Vasco Da Gama, Goa, with a present market value of approximately Rs 64crore.