The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 72 crore of Pravin Raut whose wife’s alleged transaction with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s spouse is under its scanner in the PMC Bank money laundering case.
ED attaches properties worth ₹ 72 crores belonging to Pravin Raut under PMLA in a PMC Bank loan cheating case.
— ED (@dir_ed) January 1, 2021
The central probe agency alleged that Pravin Raut had “siphoned off” Rs 95 crore worth of funds from the scam-hit bank in the garb of loan, out of which he paid Rs 1.6 crore to his wife, Madhuri Raut, who subsequently transferred Rs 55 lakh in two tranches to Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, as an “interest-free loan.”
The ED said it has provisionally attached Rs 72 crore worth of assets of Pravin Raut under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as it explained in a statement the alleged financial links between him his wife and that of Sanjay Raut’s spouse.
“Probe revealed that Rs 95 crore has been siphoned off through HDIL by one of the accused Pravin Raut in active conspiracy and connivance with various persons.
“The source of the funds were illegal availed loans/advances by HDIL from PMC Bank. There was no document or agreement in support of these payments made to Pravin Raut,” the ED alleged in a statement.
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The ED recently summoned Varsha Raut for the third time for questioning with regard to this transaction. However, Varsha Raut skipped the agency’s notice and is now expected to join probe before the ED in Mumbai on January 5.
Besides, Sanjay Raut, while holding a press conference in Mumbai early this week, had denied any wrongdoing on the part of his wife and said they were in correspondence with the ED in connection with the case for about one-and-a-half months.
He said details regarding the Rs 55 lakh loan transaction have already been submitted to the ED during the correspondence.