Raj Singh Gehlot, Chairman of the Ambience Group of Companies, who is now in ED custody, will be questioned by the central probe agency regarding the method of funneling money to different companies and how he made the J&K bank settle for Rs 128 crore in place of Rs 289.08 crore.
An ED official part of the probe team said that during the money laundering investigation, Gehlot was found to be involved in a criminal conspiracy to siphon the loan amount by diverting the funds for other purposes, such as to settle the loan of other group companies and making Fixed Deposits as well as diversion of materials to other projects of the Ambience Group.
“An amount of Rs 469 crore was found to be diverted to entities and individuals, controlled by Gehlot and for which he is the authorised signatory,” he said.
The official claimed Gehlot tried to misled the ED and continuously asserted that he did not make any diversion of the sanctioned loans.
“Whereas the documents collected during the search revealed that the submissions made by Gehlot were false and misleading,” the official said.
The ED official also pointed out that the agency will question Gehlot to understand how the layering and integration of money was done to siphon the loan amount.
He said that the J&K Bank manager in his statement to ED had said that the loan to Gehlot was released in “deviation” of rules.
“Further, against the outstanding liability of Rs 289.28 crore, the bank officials attempted to settle the account with accused for a paltry sum of Rs 128.94 crore,” the official said.
Gehlot will be questioned as to how it made it possible and probably identities of beneficiaries.
He further said that the agency will also confront Gehlot with the statements of several accused.
The ED had registered a money laundering case on the basis of an FIR filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Jammu and Kashmir Police, against officers of J&K Bank and others in respect of loan sanctioned to Aman Hospitality Pvt Ltd (AHPL).
The ED said that AHPL had taken a loan amount of Rs 810 crore from a consortium of banks led by the J&K Bank.
The official said that the loan was sanctioned for the purpose of construction and development of a five-star hotel at CBD, Shahdara, in New Delhi.
The loan amount, along with interest to the tune of Rs 902 crore, has been declared as NPA, he added.
Besides ED, the Ambinece Group Chairman is also being probed by the CBI.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the CBI to probe the case for the alleged illegal construction of a commercial building on approximately 18.98 acres of land in Gurugram by blatantly flouting the building by-laws and statutory provisions in collusion with others.
It was alleged that the land where the Ambience Mall was built was meant for a housing project.
The CBI has registered a case against a private person, Gehlot, Ambience Ltd and Ambience Developers and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and unknown officials of HUDA, and unknown private persons on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.