Supertech Scam: Chairman Booked in Money Laundering
Enforcement Directorate Files Charge Sheet Against Supertech’s Chairman in Money Laundering Case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a comprehensive charge sheet against R K Arora, the chairman and promoter of Supertech Group, along with his company and eight others.
The charge sheet alleges their involvement in a money laundering case, accusing them of orchestrating a ‘criminal conspiracy’ to defraud home buyers. The ED asserts that around 670 home buyers have been cheated of Rs 164 crore. Arora’s arrest on June 27 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was based on three rounds of questioning.
The prosecution complaint, constituting nearly 100 pages and equivalent to a charge sheet, has been submitted to Special Judge Devender Kumar Jangala. The court has scheduled the matter for August 28 to formally acknowledge the charge sheet.
The Supertech case revolves around a series of FIRs filed by police in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. These FIRs triggered the money-laundering investigation against the Supertech group, its directors, and promoters.
The Special Public Prosecutor of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), N K Matta, along with advocate Mohd Faizan Khan, has communicated to the court that the agency is currently scrutinizing 26 FIRs that were lodged by the Economic Offences Wing of the police in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh against Supertech Ltd. and its affiliated companies.
These cases involve allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery. According to the charge sheet, the company and its directors conspired to dupe individuals by collecting funds from potential home buyers as advances for booked flats in their real estate projects. However, the company did not fulfill its commitment to deliver the flats on time, effectively defrauding the public.
The ED asserts that Supertech Limited and its group companies collected funds and diverted them for purchasing land under different group entities, which were used as collateral to secure loans from banks and financial institutions. This misappropriation resulted in defaulting on payments, causing loans amounting to approximately Rs 1,500 crores to turn into non-performing assets (NPA).