ED seizes Unitech Group's Rs 7.31 crore hotel in London

(PTI) New Delhi, Dt

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a Rs. A hotel worth Rs 2.31 crore has been seized.

Named Bed and Breakfast, the hotel is owned by Ibornshorn Limited, a UK-based subsidiary of the Carnausite Group. The ED seized the property as per the provision under the PMLA Act. The ED had launched an investigation on the basis of several complaints lodged by house buyers against the Unitech Group and its promoters at the Economic Crimes Branch of the Delhi Police. The agency claimed that the Carnausite Group had paid an estimated Rs. 3 crore were diverted elsewhere.

The ED has this year filed a defamation suit against Unitech Group and its promoters under various provisions of the PMLA. He had filed a case for diverting more than Rs 2,000 crore to the Cayman Islands. The total amount of crime in the case so far has been Rs. 2,08.08 crore. The ED had on March 4 raided six locations of Shivalik Group, Trikar Group, Unitech Group and Carnausite Group in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

Out of the funds diverted by the group elsewhere, Rs. 31.7 crore Indesign Enterprise Pvt. Ltd., were deported to Britain via Cyprus. The alleged funds were used by Carnausite Group's unit Carnausite Management India Pvt. Ltd. in the name of Ibonshorn Ltd. in Britain. Following the seizure of assets in India, the Enforcement Directorate approached its counterparts in other countries under the International Money Laundering and Other Financial Crimes Corporation Protocol and seized their assets.