The Enforcement Directorate ( ED ) has recently busted an international web of black money laundering, involving an amount to the tune of ₹10,000 Crore. The operations had been facilitated by numerous Chartered Accountants ( CAs ) and Hawala Operators, making use of over 98 shell companies and 269 illicit bank accounts.
On the 2nd of January, 2025, officials from ED conducted search operations on suspected areas in Thane, Mumbai and Varanasi leading to the unearthing of a massive scale operation spearheaded by one ‘Jitendra Pandey’ who has been identified as the ‘prime accused’. The network is said to launder “proceeds of crime” to offshore destinations such as Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong using Real Time Gross Settlement ( RTGS ) mode of transfer.
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“The probe further revealed a network of RTGS entry operators who used to arrange entries in accounts of partnership firms after layering the transactions through several bank accounts of shell companies in order to conceal the origin of the funds” ED has stated.
Investigations revealed that the modus operandi involved conducting multiple circular transactions through several bank accounts which were finally transferred to the bank accounts of 12 private limited companies to make foreign remittances against the import of goods from “freight and logistics” businesses based in China.
ED revealed that the RTGS entry operators used to rearrange the RTGS entries in the bank accounts of partnership firms to be layered by the accounts of the cooked-up shell companies to camouflage the origin source of the funds.
The Enforcement Directorate initiated investigation on the basis of a First Information Report ( FIR ) filed by the Thane Police against the prime accused and other entities. Investigations shone light on the involvement of multiple Chartered Accountants who aided the incorporation of the shell companies and regulatory compliances, including filing procedures with the Registrar of Companies.
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The federal agency further seized movable assets such as cash, jewellery and digital devices estimated to be worth over ₹1 Crore among incriminating documents pertaining to immovable property transactions.
Prime accused Pandey had already been arrested last year by the Economic Offences Wing ( EOW ) of the Thane police. Investigations are touted to reveal more details about the lengths and breadths of the laundering operation and the methods employed by the Network.
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