Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued provisional orders for attaching assets of $ 50.90 million or Rs 385.44 crore in the Agusta Westland Chopper scam and Moser Baer bank fraud case.
The assets which have been attached include a villa in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai of about 20 million AED and balances in five Swiss Bank accounts amounting to $45.55 million of Rajiv Saxena, according to an official statement.
The accused was deported to India from UAE on 31st January 2019 for his involvement in the case of Agusta Westland Chopper, scam, and was therefore arrested under the PMLA. Investigations initiated by the ED under PMLA based on separate FIRs registered by the CBI in the scam and the Moser Baer Fraud case revealed that Rajiv Saxena is a hawala operator and runs an accommodation entry business in Dubai through Group companies and has laundered proceeds of crime in these cases.
Various structures for laundering the proceeds of crime had been created by Rajiv Saxena in the Agusta Westland case and by defrauding banks by mis-utilising the loans given Moser Baer India Ltd and its subsidiaries.
The proceeds of crime and tainted funds of many high-profile and high net-worth individuals were managed by Rajiv according to a report by ED. A letter of Request to the Swiss Confederation was sent to restrain his Swiss Bank accounts in the case of Agusta Westland Helicopter scam and to ensure that Rajiv does not shift/ transfer/ dispose-off the suspected proceeds of crime, by continuing the criminal seizure of the assets in his bank accounts maintained in Switzerland.
It has been admitted by Rajiv Saxena that he has been laundering the proceeds of crime not only for the Agusta Westland deal but also various other defense deals. It was reported that the proceeds of crime were sent to personal accounts of both Rajiv and his wife, who is also an accused in the Agusta Westland case.
Similarly, in the Moser Baer case, the proceeds of crime belonging to Deepak Puri amounting to $16.33 million were attached in the hands of Rajiv Saxena.
In the year 2014, the accounts of Moser Baer India were recorded as classified and non-performing assets and an underlying investigation had revealed that the proceeds of crime generated by Puri out of the bank fraud were received and kept by Rajiv Saxena till 2018 through accounts maintained for Deepak Puri and that equity was also transferred from an undisclosed entity based in the Bahamas.
Various digital evidence and accounts of Puri family maintained by Rajiv Saxena have revealed that the amount of $16.33 million are proceeds of crime in the hands of Rajiv belonging to Puri and is parked in the accounts of companies of Matrix Group.
The statement revealed that the proceeds of crime belonging to Deepak Puri and transferred to Rajiv Saxena from an undisclosed foreign entity have also been attached in the hands of Rajiv Saxena.
