A Raja, a DMK MP and former Union Minister, had 15 movable properties confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday. The properties were listed under the name of Kovai Shelters Promoters India Private Limited, his Benami company.
‘A ‘Benami’ property is not one in which the real beneficiary is not the person in whose name the property has been purchased.
In a case involving disproportionate assets involving the former Union Minister, the central agency used provisions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and took custody of the assets.
According to the ED, Raja gave environmental approval to a real estate company while serving as the Union Minister of Environment and Forests from 2004 to 2007 in exchange for ‘kickbacks’ that he received from the company in the form of land commission income in the hands of the Benami Company that he founded.
According to the ED investigation, Raja formed the firm under the names of his relatives and a close family friend with the express intention of utilizing it to store money obtained illegally. Since its creation, the corporation has never conducted any business operations.
It was also revealed that the money from the ‘kickbacks’ he got was used to purchase assets, including 45 acres of land in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, valued at roughly Rs. 55 crore.
Following the inquiry, the central agency attached the assets in December of last year, and this order was authorized on June 1 by the Adjudicating Authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case’s inquiry is still ongoing.
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