Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate, Goa, on Saturday provisionally attached three immovable properties valued at Rs 2.2 crore of a Goa-based mining company in connection with an alleged money laundering case. The company had allegedly cheated a Chinese mining firm by not supplying iron ore.
The ED attached the immovable properties under the provisions of the PMLA in connection with the case of Jiwa Mines & Minerals Ltd and others. The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of a FIR registered by the economic offences cell, Goa police, for offences of alleged cheating and criminal breach of trust.Goa police also filed a chargesheet in the scheduled offence.The ED said that the attached properties included 2 land parcels situated at Galel, Sawantwadi, Maharashtra, and a residential flat located at Andheri (West), Mumbai.“The attached properties represent proceeds of crime and were acquired in the names of the accused. These properties were acquired using proceeds of crime generated from cheating Lao Ting Dadi Mobile Components Co Ltd of approximately Rs 13.42 crore during 2010,” the ED said.The ED investigation revealed that the accused induced Lao Ting Dadi Mobile Components Co Ltd. to enter into a joint venture for iron ore mining and export through Jiwa Mines & Minerals Ltd on the basis of false assurances and misrepresentation regarding ownership and mining rights.Despite receiving substantial funds for mining and export operations, no excavation or export activity was ever undertaken. Instead, the accused diverted the funds for personal enrichment, including the acquisition of immovable properties, the ED said.“Bank trail analysis established systematic diversion, layering and utilisation of the cheated funds,” ED said.In 2017, Goa police registered an FIR in the case. Police said that, as per the MoU, the Goa-based company was required to supply iron ore excavated at a mine in Galel, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, to the Chinese firm, and that it was agreed that once Jiwa Mines and Minerals sent a picture of ore excavation, Lao Ting Dadi Mobile Components Ltd would transfer the money as payment.Police said the accused firm instead took random pictures of ore excavation and forwarded them to the Chinese firm, which immediately transferred money into the account of the accused firm. Police said that when Jiwa Mines and Minerals failed to supply the ore, a delegation of the Chinese firm’s officials found that no excavation was being conducted at that particular mine.The EoC registered the FIR following the directions of the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC), Vasco.
