The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused I-PAC of raising 'bogus invoices' to justify receiving funds from multiple third-party entities without rendering any actual consultancy or professional services.
The ED sought the custody of Vinesh Chandel, a director of the political consultancy firm, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged illegal mining and transportation of coal in West Bengal.
ED's special public prosecutor, Simon Benjamin, told the court that transactions were deliberately structured to provide a colour of legitimacy to 'otherwise illicit funds' and were used for layering and integration of proceeds of crime into the formal financial system.
Benjamin argued that the evidence on record establishes that the proceeds of crime were 'systematically layered' and routed through banking channels, and that the unaccounted cash component was utilised through informal channels including hawala transactions.
The ED accused Chandel of making false and misleading statements by denying the existence of cash transactions and misrepresenting the nature of the company's activities.
Benjamin argued that Chandel and other directors managed the deletion of emails and sensitive financial data from the accounts of key employees, and called Chandel a flight risk.
