ED chargesheets Anil aide in RCom laundering case

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate has filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) before a special court here against Punit Garg, a close associate of Anil Ambani, in a money laundering probe against Reliance Communications (RCom).

RCom, Ambani, his close associates and some family members are under investigation in the purchase and sale of an apartment worth over Rs 70 crore in Manhattan, New York. Sources said the chargesheet has mentioned Vaishali Jairam Mane, besides Garg, as an accused. Mane was an RCom employee based in the US. ED had questioned Ambani and his son in this case earlier.

The probe agency has established a money trail of funds allegedly siphoned off from RCom and transactions layered through several related shell entities. One of the shell companies was used to fund foreign education of Garg’s children from the alleged proceeds of crime siphoned off from bank loans RCom had received from an SBI-led consortium.

Later, the Manhattan apartment was sold for $8.3 million and the money was “remitted from the USA under the guise of a sham investment arrangement with a Dubai-based entity controlled by a Pakistan-linked individual, without the knowledge or consent of the resolution professional”. Dubai-based Azco Real Estate Brokers LLC is also under investigation.

Garg was arrested on Jan 29 at the ED headquarters where he was called for interrogation relating to the Manhattan apartment and funding of over $40,000 towards college fees of his children, besides using the rental income of over $36,000 from the apartment to pay for expenses of his daughter.


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