The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said that it has attached movable and immovable properties to the tune of Rs 12.11 crore belonging to Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia in connection with its probe into the Initial Public Offer (IPO) scam of Taksheel Solutions Ltd, Hyderabad.
The ED said that it attached the properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED case is based on the complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the provisions of SEBI Act,1992 against Taksheel Solutions Ltd, its promoters or directors and others for irregularities with respect to the IPO of 55,00,000 shares of Rs 10 each for which issue price was fixed at Rs 150 and through which Taksheel raised Rs 80.50 crore.
The agency said that during probe, it found that Kuchana, Kotecha and Tapadia formulated a planned strategy to inflate the revenue of Taksheel Solutions Ltd for issuing the IPO and for subsequently diverting and siphoning off the IPO proceeds.
“To facilitate the issue of IPO, Kotecha arranged for Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) of Rs 34.50 crore to Taksheel Solutions Ltd. The said funds were rotated through US-based entities belonging to Kuchana and circular transactions were done with Taksheel Solutions Ltd before the IPO which resulted in incremental revenue and corresponding inflation of profitability. Subsequent to the IPO, the ICDs were repaid from the IPO proceeds,” the ED claimed.
The ED probe also found that out of the IPO proceeds of Rs 80.50 crore, an amount of Rs 34.50 crore was diverted and siphoned off to US-based entities of Kuchana on the pretext of payment for supply of services.
From these US-based entities, an amount of Rs 30.15 crore was further transferred to Singapore or Hong Kong-based entities under the control of Kotecha. It said that out of the IPO proceeds, another amount of Rs 23 crore was transferred to Indian entities in the guise of purchase of software products and was eventually transferred to Kotecha’s entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai.
“Proceeds of crime of Rs 18 crore were transferred from Taksheel Solutions Ltd. to various individuals or entities on the pretext of IPO related expenses, payments to vendors, STPI development expenses, salaries, etc,” it said.
Earlier, the ED had arrested all three accused — Kotecha, Kuchana, and Tapadia. Kotecha and Tapadia were granted bail by Telangana High Court on December 6 this year while Kuchana is still in judicial custody.
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