Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized assets over Rs 40 crore, including equity and preference shares in the three luxury hotels of the Pune-based builder Avinash Bhosale and his family members in a probe linked to the alleged violations of the forex law.
The agency said that those properties had been seized as an equivalent value of the foreign securities or properties held by Bhosale and his family members in contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 which provides for seizure of the equivalent situated in India for the foreign security or the immovable properties held outside India.
The ED said that the attached assets were in the form of an equity shares and preference shares held in Classic City Investment Pvt Limited, Pune, which owns the three luxury hotels in the five star category. The bank balance of around Rs. 1.15 crore that were in the bank accounts held in the name of Bhosale and his family members along with the Equity shares held in ABIL, had been seized.
FEMA investigation against Bhosale and his family first began in September 2017. The agency said that an they received an information that Bhosale and his family members had acquired some assets in Dubai in contravention of the FEMA.
The ED reported that Bhosale and his family members acquired foreign securities of a company Rochdale Associates Limited, Dubai, which held immovable property of worth AED 20,000,000 i.e. approx Rs 40.34 crore, and to acquire the property, Bhosale and his family members remitted the funds through Liberalised Remittance Scheme in their bank accounts held outside of India. It also claimed that the funds were remitted in different categories like for the purchase of equity shares in Rochdale Associates Limited, Family maintenance, savings received from NRI for family maintenance, etc.
The ED also reported that the remitted funds had been utilised to purchase the said immovable property and the shares of the company were allotted against the remitted funds, it was also declared that the company had engaged in the real estate business activity, and that the investigation revealed that company did not have any business activity and was generating no income.
In February the Enforcement Directorate also raided some of the premises linked to Bhosale in places like Pune, Mumbai and Kolhapur of Maharashtra and questioned Bhosale and his son under the provisions of the FEMA.
