ED attaches Rs227-cr assets of Hisar firm

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 3

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said that it had issued a provisional attachment order under the prevention of the Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to seize immovable assets worth Rs 227.95 crore of Hisar-based Prakash Industries Limited in a coal block allocation case.

The ED, in an official statement, said, “The attached assets include land owned by the company in Hisar, Delhi, Noida and at various places in Chhattisgarh.”

The ED had initiated a probe under the PMLA on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against the company in 2016.

In the FIR, it was alleged that Ved Prakash Agarwal, chairman, Prakash Industries Ltd, and other officials of the company had misrepresented and concealed facts which included furnishing false production capacity and financial position in order to qualify for coal block allocation process and fraudulently obtained Chotia Coal Block in Chhattisgarh in 2003.

The excavation of coal started in the year 2006. Later, the Supreme Court annulled the allocation of the coal block in September 2014. However, the excavation continued till the year 2015, the ED alleged.

The ED investigation has revealed that the total coal illegally excavated between 2006 and 2015, valued at Rs 951.77 crore, had been identified as Proceeds of Crime, the agency said, adding that the income generated had been used in the acquisition of assets by Prakash Industries Ltd and its promoters.

Coal block allocation case

In the FIR, it was alleged that the firm had misrepresented and concealed facts to qualify for coal block allocation and fraudulently obtained a block in Chhattisgarh in 2003