ED attaches Rs 16.38 crore worth of Mumbai AJL asset; names Moti Lal Vora

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 9

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Saturday, said it had issued a provisional attachment order to seize assets worth Rs 16.38 crore of the Congress promoted Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and its chairman-cum-managing director and party leader, Moti Lal Vora, in connection with a money-laundering probe.

Giving details of the attached properties, the ED in an official statement said these included a nine-storey building having two basements, and the total built-up of the area was 15,000-sq metres in Mumbai. The asset “germinated out of proceeds of crime has been attached to the extent of Rs 16.38 crore,” the ED added.

The provisional attachment order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), had been issued against AJL and Moti Lal Vora, it said.

The federal money-laundering probe agency initiated its investigation into the case after FIRs were registered by Haryana police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which alleged that a plot number C-17 in Sector-6, Panchkula, was allotted to AJL in 1982.

However, the same was resumed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) Estate Officer on October 31, 1992, as AJL did not comply with the conditions of the allotment letter.

The resumption order attained finality after the dismissal of the Revision Petition in 1996. However, the then chief minister of the state and HUDA chairman, Bhupendra Singh Hooda, by misusing his official position, had blatantly and dishonestly allotted the said plot afresh in the guise of re-allotment to AJL at original rates plus interest in violation of the necessary conditions on August 28, 2005.