Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Lalit Goyal, vice chairman and managing director of the real estate group IREO, in connection with a money laundering case. Goyal has been taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the central watchdog in Chandigarh. The IREO group MD and vice chairman will be produced before a local court to seek his remand. He was stopped by the immigration authorities at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi on the basis of an ED lookout circular. Goyal was enroute to take a flight to the US when his name was called out. Goyal was questioned by at the IGI Airport in the national capital and detained under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the investigators of the ED’s Chandigarh office. Officials alleged he was “evasive” while replying the investigators’ questions. The businessman, who has close links to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s leader Sudhanshu Mittal, is being investigated in a money laundering case linked to the alleged diversion of home buyers’ funds, investments and shareholdings worth $77 million to some offshore entities.
Several homebuyers have approached the court and accused Goel's IREO of cheating and not giving timely possession of their houses. IREO is under losses to the tune of Rs 500 crore as per the 2018-19 financial statements of the firm.
Notably, Goel’s name also came up in the global ‘Pandora’ Papers leak on offshore funds. Goyal and his legal team denied any illegalities and claimed that no funds were diverted abroad in violation of the Indian laws around foreign exchange.
Goel's IREO is also under investigation by the ED in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case and is facing allegations of financial frauds by American investment companies. (With PTI inputs)
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