MUMBAI: A PMLA court on Friday declared late drug smuggler Iqbal Memon alias Mirchi’s wife, Hajra, and two sons, Asif and Junaid, fugitive economic offenders and ordered the seizure of their properties in India and abroad.
Last December, the ED, investigating the money laundering case against the Mirchi family and DHFL promoters Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan, had filed an application before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court requesting confiscation of the Mirchi family’s 15 properties. The accused did not respond to the plea.
Till date, businessman Vijay Mallya and diamantaire Nirav Modi have been declared fugitive economic offenders in India.
Sources said that the ED is likely to first go for the seizure of properties wholly owned by the family, like two floors of Ceejay House in Worli.
The investigating agency had provisionally attached the family’s properties worth Rs 798 crore in the country and abroad under PMLA. It had filed a chargesheet against them. Earlier, the court had issued open-ended non-bailable warrants against Hajra, Asif and Junaid.
In the second chargesheet against the Mirchi family, the ED tried to map all illegal activities of Iqbal Mirchi with the help of documents and statements of his associates and relatives. Mirchi died in London in 2013.
In the chargesheet, the ED stated that Mirchi had earned his money through smuggling of narcotics, arms and extortion activities. The accused laundered, layered and invested Rs 574 crore projecting it as untainted money. He mainly purchased properties on the name of his family members and companies associated with them with the help of the money, it stated.
Mirchi had purchased three buildings at Worli from money he allegedly earned from his narcotics business which were attached by the government under SAFEMA and the NDPS Act. But Mirchi managed to free them from the government attachment in 2005 fraudulently. In 2010, Wadhawans had allegedly purchased these properties from Mirchi after paying him through fictitious transactions and hawala channels.
Mirchi had trained his son Asif to handle all the illegal activities, including betting, match-fixing and matka, witnesses told the ED. Asif was also allegedly involved in illegal shipping of liquor from Dubai to Saudi Arabia.
Abdul Kadar, Mirchi’s brother in his statement to the ED, said that Mirchi used to steal goods from Bombay Dockyard during the 70s to sell them in the local market. In 1993, Mirchi shifted to Dubai and he was into the drugs business. He would allegedly arrange for drugs from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Abdul was an informant of the Indian government agencies and divulged information on the smuggling activities. In 1987, he received Rs a 1.25-crore reward from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.