ED Attaches 7 Sugar Mills Of Ex-BSP MLC Worth Rs 1,097 Crore In Money Laundering Case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday connected seven sugar mills with price in 1000’s of crores in a cash laundering case towards former Uttar Pradesh Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLC Mohammed Iqbal and his household. While making the announcement, ED officers knowledgeable that the Lucknow zonal workplace of the central probe company has issued a provisional attachment order underneath the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

As per reviews, these sugar factories are owned by Iqbal and are located in Kushinagar, Bareilly, Deoria, Hardoi and Barabanki districts of UP. However, what makes it surprising is the approx valuation of those mills which stands at Rs 10,97,18,10,250 or one thousand ninety seven crores, eighteen lakh, ten thousand, 200 fifty. 

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“These mills were sold to Mohd. Iqbal and his family members at a throwaway price of only Rs 60.28 crore through disinvestment/sale process in year 2010-11,” the probe company claimed. It additionally allged that every one these seven sugar mills have been bought within the identify of shell firms, like Namrata Marketing P Ltd and Giriasho Company P Ltd, underneath the “control” of Iqbal and his members of the family.

Investigation by ED additionally reveals that mills have been acquired by the accused by means of totally different channels of cash laundering utilizing the shell firms which have dummy administrators and sham transactions. 

Even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recorded FIR for conducting investigations into the sale of sugar mills to those firms and non-compliance of stipulated guidelines and procedures by the involved authorities officers.

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ED additionally carried out search operations on the residence of Mohd. Iqbal and his associates in Saharanpur and associated premises in Delhi whereby incriminating paperwork, valuables and data have been recovered.

The Supreme Court had in 2016 directed the CBI to conduct a probe towards Iqbal after a public curiosity litigation (PIL) was filed earlier than it, alleging that the previous legislator was indulging in corruption and cash laundering.