The Enforcement Directorate has filed a charge sheet against RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti, her husband Shailesh Kumar, their company Mishail Packers and Printers and others, in connection a money laundering investigation against shell companies.
The probe is based on a criminal complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office against Surendra and Virendra Jain, brothers, for allegedly running several shell companies through which accommodation entries were provided to people for converting black money into white.
The Jains allegedly accepted unaccounted cash from beneficiaries through mediators and converted it into share premium transactions in the beneficiary company. According to the ED, Mishail Packers and Printers was one such beneficiary. Ms. Bharti and her husband were its directors.
The Directorate has alleged that 1.2 lakh shares of Mishail Packers and Printers were bought by four shell companies in 2007-08 and 2008-09 at ₹100 per unit. The shares were later bought allegedly by Ms. Bharti at just ₹12 per share in 2009.
Three shell companies, identified as Shalini Holdings Limited, Ad-Fin Capital Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. and Mani Mala Delhi Properties, were allegedly controlled by the Jain brothers. Another company Desmond Vinimay was managed by Santosh Shah, said the agency.
ED probe revealed that chartered accountant Rajesh Agrawal, as a mediator, had allegedly given ₹90 lakh in cash to the Jain brothers in advance so as to invest in Mishail Packers and Printers as share premium. Another mediator, Sandeep Sharma, gave ₹30 lakh in cash to Santosh Shah. Thus, it is alleged, ₹1.2 crore was laundered by the accused persons.
The money is said to have been used for buying a farmhouse in Delhi’s Bijwasan, which has been attached by the Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Ms. Bharti’s company was registered at the Delhi address of 25, Tuglak Road, till the shares were bought back and it was later changed to that of the Bijwasan farmhouse.
The agency had earlier arrested the Jain brothers and the chartered accountant, against whom charge sheets have already been filed. The latest charge sheet is against Ms. Bharti, her husband, their company and the alleged mediators and the shell companies.
In the case against the Jain brothers and others, the ED has so far attached assets worth ₹67 crore.
