ED attaches Rs 55 crore worth of ‘benami’ land of DMK MP A Raja in Coimbatore

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached a “benami” asset worth Rs 55 crore of DMK MP A Raja — 45 acres of land in Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu — under the anti-money laundering law.

The federal agency said in a statement that the land was purchased by a company allegedly linked to Raja, in lieu of granting environmental clearance to a Gurugram-based real estate company by the leader during his stint as the Union minister for environment and forests between 2004 and 2007.

The land is held in the name of a “benami” company of Raja, the ED said.

Benami means ‘no name’ or ‘without name’ and such properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

“The real estate company (listed on the BSE) has given kickbacks to A Raja as quid pro quo for awarding the environmental clearance, around the same period in 2007, in the garb of land commission income in the hands of one benami company of A Raja.”

“It is found that A Raja incorporated the company in the same year (2007) in the name of his family members and his close family friend, with the sole objective of using it as a vehicle to park the proceeds of crime,” the ED alleged.

The said company, according to the ED, was never engaged in any business activity since inception and the entire money received in the company was “quid pro quo” from the real estate deal and was used for acquiring land in Coimbatore.

“Thus, the 45 acres of land in Coimbatore worth Rs 55 crore have been purchased directly using the proceeds of crime, (illegal payment made as quid pro quo for obtaining environmental clearances) have been provisionally (under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act) attached,” it said.

The money laundering case stems from an earlier CBI complaint against Raja, in which the latter agency filed a chargesheet in August before a special court in Chennai.

The CBI had charged Raja for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 5.53 crore during his tenure as the Union environment minister in the UPA government.

The CBI had alleged that a close associate of Raja, C Krishnamurthy, had set up a company Kovai Shelters Promoters in January, 2007 in which a payment of Rs 4.56 crore was received in February that year from a Gurugram-based real estate company as commission for purchase of land in Kanchipuram.

It is alleged that the payment was not for the land deal but a quid pro quo for giving the real estate firm the status of an infrastructure company by Raja during his tenure as a Union minister.

The CBI has alleged that the company had not “undertaken any other real estate activity” other than the purported land deal for the real estate firm.

The company had later bought agricultural land in Coimbatore.

The agency has alleged that Raja, as minister, had garnered assets worth Rs 5.53 crore, including the payment of Rs 4.56 crore to the company in which Raja’s close relatives were directors, which he could not satisfactorily account for.

The CBI has alleged assets in question were disproportionate to the tune of 579 per cent from his known sources of income.

The CBI registered the case in 2015 against Raja and 16 others, including his nephew Parmesh, wife Parameswari, his associate Krishnamurthy who is also director of Kovai Shelters Pvt Limited, wife of Sadiq Basha, an alleged associate of Raja who had committed suicide, and Reha Banu, a director in Greenhouse Promoters which was earlier owned by Basha among others.

The 59-year-old Raja is currently a DMK MP from the Nilgiris Lok Sabha seat.

The politician has been in the crosshairs of the ED and the CBI earlier after the two central agencies investigated his role in the 2G spectrum allocation criminal case during the tenure when Raja was the Union telecom minister.

He was arrested by the CBI in 2011 but he and other accused of the 2G case were acquitted by a special court in 2017 as the agencies failed to prove any charges of corruption against him.

The two agencies have challenged these acquittals before the Delhi High Court.