The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches on the premises of a private firm and a retired Indian Foreign Service officer for suspected violations of foreign exchange rules in the company’s dealings in Africa.
The agency conducted searches at six places in Delhi and Noida. About 54,000 dollars, 11,000 euros and Rs. 37 lakh in cash were seized, besides documents and electronic devices. The foreign currencies were found on the premises of the company’s managing director and other senior functionaries.
“The ED contacted me for some clarifications and information, which I provided. It wanted to know about my relationship with a company called Angelique which does a lot of work in Africa. They then wanted to check my house and they found 45 dollars. I was the honorary CEO of a subsidiary of the company, from which I quit three months ago,” the former diplomat, Deepak Vohra, told The Hindu .
The company, which has its office in Noida, is suspected to have kept the Reserve Bank of India in the dark about certain transactions in foreign exchange. The ED also suspects that the company had obtained a loan from an overseas bank without following procedures.
The retired IFS officer has served as a diplomat in Chad, Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, the United States, France, Spain, Lithuania and Poland. According to the ED, using his strong links in several African countries, he guided the company in getting work contracts for engineering and construction projects.
The ED plans to record the statements of the persons concerned. Details of the suspected transactions are also being collected. Investigations are under way to ascertain whether the transactions amounted to violations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
