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By Munish Chandra Pandey: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized three immovable properties, worth Rs 41.64 crore, in a FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) case lodged against Pune-based businessman Zavareh Soli Poonawalla and his family members. The seized properties are at the Ceejay House in Mumbai’s Worli.
The financial probe agency is investigating a case of misuse of the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) under the provisions of the FEMA against Zavareh Soli Poonawalla and his family. His name was on the Panama Papers over off-shore entities.
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“The ED’s investigation revealed Zavareh Soli Poonawalla and his family had remitted foreign exchange abroad by misutilizing the provisions of the LRS scheme. They used the maximum permissible limit and from the year 2011 to 2012, they remitted money abroad via mis-declarations under the pretext of ‘family maintenance and self-maintenance’. However, none of their family members was residing abroad or holding the NRI status,” the ED said.
The funds remitted by Zavareh Soli Poonawalla and his family under the LRS were allegedly invested into Stallast Limited in the British Virgin Islands and were allegedly utilised to purchase four properties in the UK. These include four apartments in Paddington, London, the ED said.
“Multiple FEMA contraventions were seen in these transactions. Apart from mis-declarations in the remittances, Poonawalla and his family wrongly claimed these investments to be foreign portfolio investments. But in reality, the foreign entity was completely controlled by them. The foreign assets were not declared to the RBI. They continue to hold the foreign assets to date and are continuously enjoying them,” the ED added.
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