The Enforcement Directorate has summoned industrialist Vikas Garg in a Rs 190-crore customs duty fraud case. Garg has been asked to appear at the ED’s Mumbai office to record his statement under PMLA
Representational Image. File Pic
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (ED) has summoned industrialist Vikas Garg in connection with its probe into an alleged Rs 190-crore customs duty fraud. Garg has been directed to appear before the agency at its Mumbai zonal office in Ceejay House by 10 am on Friday, officials confirmed.
According to ED officers, chairman of EbixCash Garg has been called to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case where several entities are alleged to have evaded customs duty by using forged export documentation.
The investigation pertains to allegedly importing goods duty-free, showing them as exports only on paper, and allegedly diverting them into the domestic market, causing an estimated loss of around Rs 190 crore to the government.
Earlier searches were conducted u/s 17 of PMLA, 2002, in the case of M/s Titan Sea and Air Services Pvt Ltd and others, recorded on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI, EO-III, Delhi, for creating fake export documents, including invoices and shipping bills, to misrepresent goods as being exported to Nepal and Bangladesh, while actually selling them domestically and thereby evading the customs duty of Rs. 190 crores.
The residential premises and business premises of Mr Vikas Garg, one of the key persons behind the evasion of custom duty of Rs. 190 crores, and his employees, in whose names the entities were incorporated outside India for effecting imports and exports in their names, were searched on November 12. Incriminating evidence in relation to the imports and exports and digital devices of key persons were also seized.
Earlier in April, Vikas Garg's premises were also searched by ED in relation to the Mahadev betting app case. Investigations by ED had then revealed that Garg was using proceeds of crime from the Mahadev syndicate to manipulate and rig share prices of some stocks in India.
Moreover, Garg and his companies have been under investigation by SEBI, CBI, GST and the Income Tax Investigation Wing.
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