Under the terms of the Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken possession of Rs 16 crore that belonged to Alphageo (India) Limited in the form of fixed deposits (FEMA, 1999).
The ED opened an investigation into Alphageo India Limited (M/s Alphageo) based on information that Alphageo had moved and parked certain funds in the United Arab Emirates in violation of the FEMA, 1999 rules.
It was discovered throughout the examination that Alphageo is a Hyderabad-based business that offers seismic survey services to different oil exploration and production businesses in India and internationally. The business has been purchasing several seismic data collecting tools from suppliers with offices in France, Singapore, the Netherlands, and other countries.
Further investigation found that Alphageo directly purchased seismic data collecting equipment from a number of suppliers. However, Rajiv Saxena, a chartered accountant located in Dubai and a hawala operator for these imports, has maintained and managed a business called Matrix Group DMCC, through which the payment for the same has been passed.
Further investigation revealed that Alphageo had overcharged import bills for these imports, in violation of the provisions of the FEMA Act, 1999, and parked funds into the account of M/s Matrix Group DMCC for the benefit of Dinesh Alla, Chairman and Managing Director of M/s Alphageo (India) Limited.
Investigations indicated that USD 25,34,628 was stored outside of India in violation of FEMA’s 1999 Section 4 regulations. Therefore, under Section 37A of the FEMA, 1999, the equivalent value of the foreign monies parked in the United Arab Emirates by M/s Alphageo equal to Rs. 16 Crore has been seized in India.
The subject is currently under inquiry.
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