[Money Laundering Case] Tribunal Quashes ED Attachment Of Rs 180 Crore Properties Of NCP Leader Praful Patel

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

A Mumbai court quashed an Enforcement Directorate (ED) order that sought to attach properties worth over Rs 180 crore belonging to NCP leader Praful Patel.

[Money Laundering Case] Tribunal Quashes ED Attachment of Rs 180 Crore properties of NCP Leader Praful Patel

Mumbai: Earlier this week, a Mumbai court quashed an Enforcement Directorate (ED) order that sought to attach properties worth over Rs 180 crore belonging to NCP leader Praful Patel. This action was related to a money laundering case involving the alleged illegal assets of the late Iqbal Mirchi, a close aide to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

On June 3, the Appellate Tribunal dealing with the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act (SAFEMA) declared the ED’s action against Patel “illegal.”

The Tribunal stated that the seven flats in Mumbai’s Ceejay House, owned by Patel, his wife Varsha, and their company, Millennium Developers, were not involved in money laundering or linked to Iqbal Mirchi.

The Tribunal further noted that there was no evidence presented to demonstrate even a remote connection between the Patels’ properties and the alleged crime.

“The attachment of the area on the 12th to 15th floors of Ceejay House cannot be considered appropriate or legal. It cannot be concluded that a property acquired through legitimate transactions and a court decree is involved in money laundering. Therefore, we quash the impugned attachment orders as well as the order of the Adjudicating Authority,” the appellate tribunal stated.

It was also noted that properties belonging to Mirchi’s wife, Hazra Memon, and her two sons in Ceejay House were separately attached, making a double attachment of the Patels’ properties unnecessary.

The ED had alleged that Patel’s Millennium Developers Pvt. Ltd. constructed Ceejay House in Mumbai in 2006–07 and transferred its third and fourth floors, around 14,000 square feet, to Mirchi’s wife, Hazra Iqbal Memon.

They claimed these properties were acquired through “illegal transactions” involving the proceeds of crime from money laundering, drug trafficking, and extortion.

The ED had alleged that the building’s construction on the specified plot violated the permissible Floor Space Index (FSI). However, the tribunal observed that such a violation did not constitute a scheduled offense under the PMLA.

“Therefore, it would not fall under the jurisdiction of the ED. This plea about the FSI violation seems to have been taken solely to harass the Patels,” the tribunal remarked.

Mirchi, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, died in 2013. Patel, however, maintained that the deal was a redevelopment one, involving property partly owned by his family and partly by others, including Hazra Memon.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) closed a corruption case against Patel in March, shortly after he joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) following a split in the NCP.

The CBI found no evidence of wrongdoing by Patel in the alleged irregularities in leasing aircraft by National Aviation Corporation of India Ltd. (NACIL), formed after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.

Case Title: Praful Patel and ors v Deputy Director ED

View Order

Praful-Patel-and-ors-v-Deputy-Director-ED Download