The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth ₹6.66 crore in a demonetisation-related case, in which ₹11.79 crore in trashed notes received from 35 beneficiaries was converted into legal currency using the bank accounts of 23 shell companies.
The case pertains to Payal Tradelink and others. The assets attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act include the balance in bank accounts and an immovable property measuring 20.75 decimal in Jharkhand’s Ranchi.
There were huge cash deposits in the account of Payal Tradelink with the United Bank of India during the demonetisation period. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case in this regard, following which the ED initiated the money laundering probe.
The ED detected 10 other accounts linked to the company, in which the demonetised notes were deposited. The agency alleges that Abhay Sultaniya of Payal Tradelink, in collusion with others, illegally collected the trashed notes from the beneficiaries from different parts of the country.
The cash, converted into legal currency by making deposits in the accounts of 23 shell firms, was later transferred back to the beneficiaries and invoices issued to project them as legitimate payments, it is alleged.
