ED attaches Rs 200-crore properties of realty firm Sobha
Dec 07, 2022
New Delhi [India], December 7 : The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached the proceeds of crime (PoC) of Sobha in the form of immovable properties amounting to Rs 200 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
This case was initiated on the basis of the first information report (FIR) registered by Haryana Police against Sobha Ltd and others for violation of rules laid down by the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, Haryana, and cheating general public for selling plots meant for 'No Profit No Loss (NPNL)' category at exorbitant market prices in the Sobha International City, Gurugram.
Haryana Police has already filed charge sheets against Sobha and other related persons of the company for the offence, according to a statement from the probe agency.
Acting upon the FIR registered by the Haryana Police, ED initiated its investigations and it was revealed that management of Sobha had flouted a premeditated scheme to defeat the intent of the NPNL scheme and in a pre-mediated manner, the plots were allotted to its own employees and were later sold to the general public as Villas at exorbitant prices.
In a pre-planned manner, Sobha floated 59 LLPs (Limited Liability Partnership) making its employees as designated partners and transferred fund of Rs 29 crore indirectly to these 59 LLPs in order to enable them to purchase 59 plots at the price of Rs 48 lakh as stipulated under the scheme, according to the statement.
Immediately after the sale of these plots to LLPs, these LLPs transferred these plots to Eunomia Developers LLP -- an entity under direct control of Sobha -- having the same designated partners, according to the statement. These LLP in turn sold the plots to the general public and generated PoC of about Rs 201 crore.
As PoC had already been dissipated by Sobha, equivalent land of book value Rs 201 crore has been attached by the Directorate of Enforcement which includes land bank of Sobha in Kerala held through one of its controlled entity -- Technobuild Developers Pvt Limited.
Earlier, in this case ED has searched 17 premises of Sobha and its management in 2019. Two persons, namely Ashok Solomon and Prakash Gurbaxani were arrested by ED and prosecution complaint against them had been filed, according to the statement.
Cognizance of the same has already been taken by the special court, Gurugram. With this attachment, the total value of attached assets has reached to Rs 311 crore. Total estimated PoC in this case is estimated to be Rs 311 crore.
