Wednesday, December 11, 2013

NSEL scam: Bribes went to tax officials and money trail leads to defaulting company

Shocking information has come out of the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) scam probe. Investigators say top NSEL officials paid up to Rs 11 crore as bribes to income tax and other government officials to evade taxes and the money allegedly came from defaulting Delhi-based company Mohan India.

The revelations came in an affidavit once filed the exchange's former vice-president (business development) Amit Mukherjee and discovered by tax officials during a search at his house.

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) officials of the Mumbai Income Tax Department said they have submitted details of this affidavit found during search operation at Mukherjee's residence to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"We found the document during a search of Mukherjee's personal belongings. We have forwarded it to the CBI for further action," Additional Police Commissioner (EOW) Rajvardhan Sinha said.

When contacted, a top CBI official also confirmed that they were in touch with EOW on the bribery issue and probing the matter.

Rajvardhan Sinha said Mukherjee in the affidavit claimed that top officials of the NSEL were paid these bribes and the money was arranged from Mohan India -- one of the biggest defaulters in Rs 5,500-crore NSEL payout scam.

Market rumours said Mohan India -- with an outstanding of around Rs 950 crore -- has signed a settlement agreement to cough up around Rs 770 crore.

The company wants to the money in installments over 11 months backed by collateral of land parcels and properties worth Rs 400-500 crore.

Delhi-based Mohan India and its group company Tavishi Enterprises owe around money to NSEL against trades in sugar contracts.

It has so far paid only a single installment of Rs 25 crore against its dues of Rs 605 crore whereas Tavishi has not paid anything at all and has instead moved court challenging the due of Rs 347 crore.

Mohan India is the same company that, according to former NSEL MD and CEO Anjani Sinha's first affidavit, allegedly gave Rs 18 lakh to Mukherjee and Bonhi Mukherjee on February 11 and March 22.

Sinha claimed Mohan India director Jai Shrivastava, in a meeting in New Delhi on September 7, also gave Amit Mukherjee Rs 35 crore, in cash and cheque.

For its modus operandi, Mohan India allegedly used company driver Ram Awadh Sharma as a dummy director.

India Today Online has exclusive details of Mohan India's money trail.

The bank statements and transaction details of Mohan India and Brinda Commodity (that took money from NSEL without delivering sugar) indicate that the money was invested in various shedding activities and handed to over to related as well as unrelated entities.

Rs 197 crore transacted to Genius Promoters (Rs 124 crore) and Jai Shrivastava (Rs 48 crore)

Rs 613 crore transferred to unrelated entries.

The break-up for this transfer is like this: Pay orders of Rs 161.68 crore. Investigators say it might have been used for buying land in Najafgarh in Delhi.

Also, Rs 373 crore was paid to six companies -- Anuj Traders, Neki Ram Vijay Kumar, Sandeep Kumar Anuj Kumar, Shree Raghav Trading, Vijay Shree Enterprises and Vishnu Traders. They seem to be entry operators facilitating cash in lieu of cheque.

An investigator said these payments were made after August 12 when it became clear to NSEL insiders that the exchange was going bust.

One alarming fact is most of the money came back from related entities, where it was parked and was routed to unrelated entities to evade seizure of assets.

"Another point is that of the above, Rs 307 crore was routed to these firms between August 1 and August 21, when the exchange finally defaulted in payments," a source said.

The break-up:
  •     Rs 13.75 crore from Mohan India and Rs 31.75 crore from Brinda Commodity paid to S.R. Bhalotia.
  •     A source said that of this amount, Rs 35 crore is the loan on behalf of NSEL and the balance may have been paid for the purchase of sugar.
  •     Rs 6.74 crore was used for buying vehicles
  •     Rs 6.15 crore for buying gold
  •     Rs 8.39 crore for buying sugar from Nizam Deccan Sugar to show sample stock in the warehouse
  •     Rs 128 crore was received from Brinda Commodity
  •     Rs 110 crore was received from Wizkid Promoters which too received payments money from Brinda Commodity
  •     Rs 96 crore was received from entities such as Saral Diagnostics (a leading diagnostic centre in north Delhi) and from fixed deposits of Rs 5 crore.
  •     Brinda Commodity paid Rs 79 crore to Ram Awadh Sharma (the driver-cum-director) who then paid Rs 4 crore to Mohan India
  •     Brinda Commodity also paid Rs 136 crore to Tavishi Enterprises. The money was then paid back to NSEL against their buy trade.
  •     Brinda again paid Rs 14.65 crore to Timber Trail Travel Today -- a popular hill resort in Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh

So in a nutshell, out of the Rs 852 crore that the Mohan India group received from NSEL (around Rs 70 crore are carry forward and transaction costs), Rs 550-600 crore was paid to unrelated entities and Rs 150-200 crores to related entities.

"We have also come to know that one M/s. Singh & Associates is very much involved with the Mohan India group. They have given Rs 6.5 crore to park with GD Goenka School. Apart from this, money has been received from other accounts to his account. Therefore, the involvement of M/s. Singh & Associates with Mohan India is also under investigation," said an officer.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun probing Mohan India.

In fact, some days back, ED officials went to the group's premises and inspected books and other records.

The Income Tax Department has sent notices and is investigating all entities that received money from the group and had other transactions with it.

Mohan India, which bought 216,324 tonnes of sugar for Rs 605.2 crore, is little known.

In 2011-12, the last year for which its financials are available, it earned a net profit of Rs 2,044 on revenue of Rs 72,400.

Tavishi, on the other hand, was born a couple of months before the exchange collapsed under its own weight.

Sources say Mohan India and Tavishi may have virtually nothing on their balance sheets but have several heavyweights backing them.

The group companies are promoted by an influential business family from north-west Delhi.

Mohan India director Jagmohan Garg is the man behind Merababa Reality projects.

Garg's six brothers -- Madanmohan, Manmohan, Harimohan, Adarshmohan, Radheymohan and Shreemohan -- have board positions in the group. The brothers have Garg or Gupta as their surnames.

The company has several projects in Rohini and Pitampura, including malls that go with the brand name D-Mall and a Radisson Group hotel in Paschim Vihar. The family also runs a branch of GD Goenka Public School in Rohini.
Courtesy:
Virendrasingh Ghunawat  Mumbai, October 30, 2013 | UPDATED 13:02 IST
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nsel-scam-bribes-went-to-tax-officials/1/320890.html

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