ED attaches Udhayanidhi Foundation’s properties in Kallal Group case
CHENNAI: The trouble from central agencies came closer home to Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin after the Enforcement Directorate attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of a foundation named after his son and cabinet colleague Udhayanidhi Stalin. Also, properties across Tamil Nadu worth Rs 36.3 crore were attached provisionally on May 25, the central agency revealed on Saturday.
In a statement, the ED said it had initiated investigations on the basis of an FIR registered by Central Crime Branch-I, Chennai, under various sections of the IPC, after a subsidiary of UK-based Lyca Group filed complained against Kallal group and its key executives Saravanan Palaniappan, Vijaykumaran, Aravinth Raj and Vijay Ananth, alongwith Lakshmi Muthuraman and Preetha Vijayananth.
The directorate said its investigations revealed that the fraud is actually of an amount of Rs 300 crore, as the Lyca group had also made other investments and loans to the Kallal group and its entities.
As part of the investigation, the directorate conducted searches at firms and individuals linked to both the accused and the complainant, which unearthed evidence in form of digital, documents, properties, suspicious cash and hawala transactions. All these are still under investigation, it said.
Meanwhile, in order to secure part of the proceeds of crime, ED has provisionally attached various immovable properties across Tamil Nadu, valued at Rs 36.3 crore and further attached Rs 34.7 lakh available in the bank account of Udayanidhi Stalin Foundation on May 25. The foundation received the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 1 crore, but its trustees failed to explain the rationale for getting the money from the parties involved in the case, the ED said in a press note
Thus total Proceeds of crime in the case is pegged at around Rs 300 crore, of which Immovable properties valued at Rs 36.3 crore and movable properties in the form of bank account with available balance of Rs 34.7 lakh have been attached, it added. Further investigations are on.
