ED Raids Premises of Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal, Attaches Properties Worth Rs. 24.95 Crore
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached three properties worth Rs. 24.95 crore belonging to Hero MotoCorp CMD and Chairman Pawan Kant Munjal in New Delhi, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The action was taken in response to a prosecution complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against Munjal and others under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962, for illegally taking foreign exchange currency out of India.
“The prosecution complaint alleges that foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 54 crore was illegally taken out of India,” the ED said in a statement.
According to the ED, Munjal issued foreign exchange/foreign currency in the name of other persons and then spent it for his personal needs abroad.
ED has attached 03 immovable properties located at Delhi worth Rs. 24.95 Crore (approx.) under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 belonging to Pawan Kant Munjal, CMD & Chairman, M/s Hero MotoCorp Ltd in connection with a money laundering investigation. The total value of seizure and…
— ED (@dir_ed) November 10, 2023
“The foreign currency/foreign exchange was drawn from authorized dealers by an event management company in the name of various employees and then handed over to Pawan Kant Munjal”s relationship manager. The relationship manager carried such foreign currency/foreign exchange in cash/card secretly, for the personal expenditure of Pawan Kant Munjal during his personal/business trips. The modus was adopted to override the limits of USD 2.5 lakh per annum per person under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme,” the central probe agency further explained.
The DRI prosecution complaint alleged that Munjal, a third-party service provider company called Salt Experience and Management Pvt. Ltd. (SEMPL), and individuals identified as Amit Bali, Hemant Dahiya, KR Raman and some others were involved in “carrying, attempting to export and illicit export of prohibited items, i.e., foreign currency.”
The ED said SEMPL “illegally exported foreign currency equivalent to about Rs. 54 crore to various countries during the period 2014-2015 to 2018-2019, which was ultimately used for personal expenses of PK Munjal.”
Moreover, SEMPL was allegedly issued foreign exchange to the tune of about Rs. 14 crore in the name of its officials/employees such as Hemant Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj, and Ketan Kakkar, over and above the annual permissible limit of USD 250,000 in various financial years.
On August 1, the ED seized Rs. 25 crore worth of valuables from Munjal and other officials, along with digital and incriminating evidence. In March 2022, Munjal had to confront an income tax department raid over alleged tax evasion.
