NEW DELHI, Mar 5:
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the promoter of a Chennai-based company in a money laundering case linked to alleged overvaluation of coal during sale to public sector undertakings.
The accused has been identified as A R Buhari, promoter of Coastal Energy Private Limited (CEPL).
“Buhari is controlling companies like Coastal Energy Private Limited, Chennai, Coastal Energen Private Limited, Coal & Oil Group Dubai and other offshore entities located in Mauritius and British Virgin Islands,” the ED said in a statement issued on Friday.
It said certain PSUs were supplied “coal of lower calorific value instead of the higher specification for which the tenders were floated and executed by CEPL or MMTC (Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation) and the coal was supplied by CEPL either directly or through MMTC.”
The agency said the “overvaluation” of lower quality of coal was done using a “fraudulent” certificate of sampling and analysis (COSA) and the original COSA depicting the genuine quality of coal was “suppressed.”
Buhari, it alleged, generated “proceeds of crime” to the tune of Rs 564.48 crore from the overvaluation of coal.
“Buhari diverted the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 557.25 crore through CEPL and CNO Group entities, UAE and routed the same back to India through Precious Energy Holdings Ltd, BVI and Mutiara Energy Holdings Ltd, Mauritius to invest in Coastal Energen Pvt. Ltd, India,” the ED alleged.
Funds worth Rs 557.25 crore, in the possession of Coastal Energen Pvt. Ltd, were provisionally attached by the agency in 2020. The ED filed the money laundering case against the accused after taking cognisance of separate probes by the CBI and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. (PTI)
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