ED attaches Rs 203-crore worth Dubai assets of Iqbal Mirchi's family in money laundering case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached Dubai-based assets worth over Rs 203 crore of late gangster Iqbal Mirchi's family in connection with a money laundering case.

The attached assets include 15 commercial and residential properties belonging to the "family members" of Mirchi.

They include a hotel called Midwest Hotel Apartment, the ED said.

They are valued at Rs 203.27 crore and have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the central probe agency said in a statement.

Officials said these assets were transferred to the Mirchi family by a Dubai-based company owned by the Wadhawan brothers, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.

The Wadhawans are the promoters of the Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).

They were arrested by the ED in another money laundering case linked to allegedly dubious loans given by Yes Bank.

Kapil Wadhawan was also arrested by the agency in connection with the Mirchi PMLA case but he later obtained bail.

The agency, the officials said, will soon approach their counterparts in Dubai to execute the attachment order and will issue a proclamation on each of the assets that they cannot be sold or purchased as they have been seized under the criminal sections of the PMLA.

The ED had earlier attached assets in the US and Australia in a similar fashion in other money laundering cases.

With the latest action, the total attachment in this case by the ED stands at Rs 776 crore.

Two similar attachment orders were issued by the agency in December last year.

Mirchi, who died in 2013 in London, was alleged to be the right-hand man of global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim in drug trafficking and extortion crimes.

"He (Mirchi) was an international drugs dealer and smuggler who had amassed huge wealth and acquired various immovable properties and businesses across the globe," the ED had said earlier.

The agency alleged Mirchi "indirectly owned various properties in and around Mumbai".

It has filed a criminal case against Mirchi, his family and others to probe the money laundering charges for allegedly illegal dealings in the purchase and sale of costly real estate assets in Mumbai.

This PMLA case is based on multiple FIRs lodged by the Mumbai police.

The agency had filed a charge sheet in this case before a Mumbai court in December and the court had subsequently issued open-ended non-bailable warrants against Mirchi's sons Asif Memon and Junaid Memon and his wife Hajra Memon.