The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a Delhi-based jewellery group’s bank deposits of ₹7 crore, the amount equivalent to the value of alleged assets stashed abroad, in connection with its probe into the Panama Papers case.
It was the first action by the ED against alleged illegal accumulation of assets abroad after the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) was amended recently to empower it to act in such cases.
The Central probe agency said in a statement that the seized funds “relate to A.K. Mehra, Deepak Mehra, Shalini Mehra and Naveen Mehra of Mehrasons Jewellers of Delhi.”
The ₹7 crore is lying in various bank accounts in the country.
“Following the investigation in the wake of the Panama leaks, it was found that huge amounts were sent out of India by mis-utilising the scheme of liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) of the RBI in the garb of making investments abroad by the Mehras of Mehrasons Jewellers of Delhi,” the agency said
