A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday remanded actor and businessman Sachin Joshi in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till February 22 in a ₹22 crore slum rehabilitation fraud case involving the Omkar Group.
ED counsel Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh sought an extension of Mr. Joshi’s custody because they wanted to interrogate him on the cellphone that had been seized by the agency.
Mr. Joshi was arrested on February 14 and as per the ED, he had helped promoters of the Omkar Group to divert ₹87 crore. Apart from the cash flows of Omkar Realtors and Developers Private Limited, it was observed that there were huge inter-company transactions with group companies, including the companies from which funds have been transferred to Mr. Joshi and his companies, the ED contended.
With respect to funds received against various invoices raised by Mr. Joshi, the ED said, “it is seen that the purpose mentioned in invoices for facilitating settlement of non-eligible tenants and possession of constructed rehabilitation units, help in getting consents from society, slum dwellers, committee members, brokerage towards land deal etc. However, when Mr. Joshi was asked about whether any such actual services were rendered, he stated that no actual slum rehabilitation work was done by him, but he was involved in facilitation with Omkar Group, where Omkar Group was to use his name and brand name in order to rehabilitate the tenants/settle with the tenants.”
The ED stated, “The use of brand name and/or goodwill for settlement of non-eligible tenants appears to be very farfetched in the light of fact that neither Mr. Joshi nor his companies had ever done any Slum Rehabilitation Authority related work or Slum Rehabilitation project.”
