ED heat on B C Jindal group over 'sham' transactions valuing Rs 505 cr

New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday alleged that the B C Jindal group of companies and its promoters transferred about Rs 505 crore outside India through "sham transactions."  A total of 13 premises of the Delhi-based business conglomerate, a major player in the power sector, promoter Shyam Sunder Jindal, its directors, and other office bearers were searched by the central agency during September 18-19 under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).  The company or its promoters could not be contacted immediately for a comment. The searches were conducted for suspected FEMA violation by the B C Jindal group entities, especially Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL), Jindal India Powertech Ltd, ad Jindal Poly films Ltd, for overseas investments and parking of funds in their own overseas entities and round tripping, the agency claimed in a statement.  The group is "beneficially" owned by Shyam Sunder Jindal, his wife Shubhdra Jindal, and son Bhavesh Jindal.

The three have been alleged by the ED to have remitted Rs 505.14 crore outside India to their own overseas entity, Topaz Enterprise DMCC, Dubai, to acquire shareholding of another overseas entity, Garnet Enterprise DMCC (GED), in the guise of overseas direct investment (ODI), the probe agency said.  The ED said, during the searches, it recovered certain documents related to these overseas entities, their acquisition, and more.  According to the documents, Shyam Sunder Jindal is the 100 per cent shareholder of Topaz Enterprise DMCC and is the key person controlling the finances of this entity and other overseas entities, the ED said.   "It is gathered from the documents recovered during search operation that an amount of Rs 505.14 crore has been transferred outside India through sham transaction as ODI which was based on sham valuation of shares of foreign entity.  "Two different valuation reports were obtained from two valuers who were related with each other, which shows that the valuation was enhanced to enable more remittance outside country," the ED alleged.  It said Shyam Sundar Jindal was not available in India during the searches as he left for Hong Kong citing official work and has not yet returned to India.  "He is yet to join the investigation," the agency said. PTI NES      VN VN