New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case against the GVK group, the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) and others to probe alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 705 crore in the operations of the Mumbai airport, officials said Tuesday.
The central probe agency has filed the enforcement case information report (equivalent of a police FIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after studying a recent CBI FIR filed against the same entities. The ED will probe if funds were laundered to amass personal assets and if proceeds of crime were generated by the accused, they said.
“We have not received any notice from the Enforcement Directorate,” a spokesperson for GVK said.
The CBI case pertains to the alleged siphoning off Rs 705 crore from the funds of MIAL, a joint venture under public-private partnership (PPP) between the GVK Airport Holdings Limited and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) besides other investors, by showing inflated expenditure, under-reporting of revenues, fudging of records among others.
The ED, according to officials, is expected to summon company officials to record their statements and it may also attach their assets under the PMLA after some stages of investigation are completed.
The CBI has booked Gunupati, a director in MIAL, his son GV Sanjay Reddy, MD in MIAL, the companies MIAL, GVK Airport Holdings Limited (a GVK group company) and nine other private companies allegedly used to camouflage the inflated figures through sham deals and unidentified AAI officials.
The AAI entered into an agreement with MIAL, April 4, 2006 for the modernisation, upkeep, operation and maintenance of the Mumbai airport.
