A Delhi court on early Tuesday morning remanded Vinesh Chandel, Director of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody for 10 days in a money laundering case.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Shefali Barnala Tandon of the Patiala House Court passed the remand order.Chandel was arrested by the ED last night and produced before the Court. The hearing continued till early hours of Tuesday, following which the judge remanded him to the central agency's custody.
According to the ED, Chandel is one of the founders and a 33% shareholder of PAC Consulting Private Limited and is under investigation in a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case stems from a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Delhi Police.Earlier, ED had raided the office of I-PAC in Kolkata's Salt Lake leading to a stand off with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
According to the ED, the investigation has uncovered multiple instances of financial irregularities involving the company. These include the receipt of both accounted and unaccounted funds, unsecured loans lacking legitimate business backing, issuance of bogus invoices, and routing of funds through third parties.ED has also alleged use of domestic and international hawala channels to move cash.
"Investigation has further revealed that Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd was involved in laundering proceeds of crime to the tune of multiple crores. The amount detected so far is about ₹50 Crore," the ED has said. ED has further said that the investigation, initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by Delhi Police, has revealed multiple instances of financial irregularities and various modes of money laundering by I-PAC.
It noted that this includes receipt of accounted and unaccounted funds, receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, issuance of bogus bills and invoices, receipt of funds from third parties, and movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala. ED added that the investigation further revealed that I-PAC is involved in laundering proceeds of crime to the tune of multiple crores.
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