Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently moved a special PMLA court under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEO) seeking to permanently confiscate 15 assets worth around Rs 700 crore belonging to late drug smuggler Iqbal Memon and his family in Mumbai and Dubai. The plea includes Worli properties, comprising Rabia Mansion, Marium Lodge, and Sea View properties, and around 15 properties in Dubai, including Hotel Midwest Apartment in Bur Dubai and over a dozen commercial and residential units in the Business Bay and DEC Towers.The ED alleged that the family acted as the beneficial owners of these properties, utilising trust entities in India and corporate holdings in Dubai to project tainted assets as legitimate wealth. “The fugitive has refused to come to India and he has already been declared a Fugitive Economic Offender. The…case has international ramifications and as observed by the SC [Supreme Court] economic offences are grave… and need to be viewed seriously… it is prayed that the accused be dealt with strictly…and order for confiscation of the assets,” the ED said in its plea.In 2021, the court declared Mirchi’s wife Hajra and sons Asif and Junaid fugitive economic offenders under the FEO Act after they did not return to India despite summons issued in the money laundering case. Under the Act, the court is authorised to order the confiscation of properties.On Wednesday, the court heard arguments from ED’s special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves on the plea. The arguments will continue on April 7.Tracing the history back to 1986, the ED found that Mirchi originally acquired the Worli plots from the Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust for Rs. 6.5 lakh through a partnership firm. To evade government attachment, a ‘Caretaker Agreement’ was allegedly fabricated in 1991, allowing the trust to appear as the owner, while Mirchi maintained actual control. Currently, these plots, measuring nearly 5,000 sq m, are valued at Rs 497 crore. The ED also pointed to the family’s real estate portfolio with the money siphoned off to Dubai. This most expensive is Hotel Midwest Apartment in Bur Dubai, valued at AED 9.3 crore (approximately Rs 233 crore). The ownership is split among the family members. Junaid and Asif each hold a 40% stake, while Hajra holds the remaining 20%. The ED also alleged a suspicious nexus involving DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan and the Memon family. “….payments to the tune of Rs 154 crore were made overseas to Iqbal Mirchi by Wadhawans for acquisition of properties Sea View…Dheeraj Wadhawan also transferred 14 commercial and residential units to Asif Memon on price of AED 4.5 million (approximately Rs 11.28 crore) against prevalent market value of AED 13 million (approximately Rs 32 crore) from Dheeraj & East Coast LIC, a company owned and controlled by the Wadhawans to settle the various issues in finalisation of deal,” the ED submitted. The portfolio also includes four residential units in DEC Towers, situated in the Marsa area of Dubai. These units were allegedly transferred to Asif in 2015 by Dheeraj & East Coast LLC. The ED alleged that these transfers were made without any “consideration”, even as they have a combined valuation of Rs 6.08 crore.The ED further said that though certain properties stand in the name of Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust and the Dubai-based assets in the names of Asif, Junaid and Hajra Memon, the investigation conclusively established “that all such entities and individuals were merely fronts, proxies and vehicles used for the acquisition, layering, holding and enjoyment of the proceeds of crime generated from the illicit activities of late Iqbal Mirchi alias Iqbal Memon”.
