Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested Gagan Dhawan, alleged to be Ahmed Patel’s close aid, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case involving bank fraud of over Rs. 5,000 crore.
ED arrests Gagan Dhawan under PMLA in a case involving bank fraud of over Rs 5000 Crore by Sandesara group.
— ED (@dir_ed) November 1, 2017
Dhawan is said to be a close aide of Congress leader Ahmed Patel and advisor to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, in September, an FIR filed by CBI named Irfan Siddiqui, son in law of Ahmed Patel, for allegedly bribing top Income Tax officials for hushing up the raids and huge money trail data seized from Sterling BioTech and Sandesara Group of companies.
#BREAKING — UPA middleman Gagan Dhawan arrested by ED. He is known to be close to Ahmed Patel | @Ashish_Mehrishi with more details pic.twitter.com/tc6sXIXiuU
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 1, 2017
There are speculations that Dhawan, has in the past. bought farm houses for Congress leaders.
ED arrests Gagan Dhawan in a bank fraud of over Rs 5,000 cr; big catch as Dhawan bought farmhouses for son-in-law of a top Cong leader
— pradeep thakur (@pradeeptTOI) November 1, 2017
Earlier, in August, ED had carried out raids in 12 places of former Congress leader Shaukeen and Gagan Dhawan under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The premises raided included a flat in south Delhi’s upscale East of Kailash area, five flats in Vasant Kunj including the office of Aaina Marble Pvt Ltd, a farmhouse in Bijwasan, a flat in Inraprakash building in the Barakhamba area of central Delhi, a flat in Chanakyapuri and a flat in Chawla area of the national capital. ED officials said they had received initial information that black money of politicians and bureaucrats was being converted into white.
According to CBI, the company had taken loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which have turned into non-performing assets. The FIR mentioned that the total pending dues of the group companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016. The ED had taken cognizance of this FIR to file a money laundering case against them.
Last week, Gujarat ATS had arrested two suspected ISIS operatives from Gujarat who were allegedly plotting an attack on a Jewish synagogue in Ahmedabad. A day later, in a press conference, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had claimed that the two men were employed in a hospital of which Congress leader Ahmed Patel was a patron. However, Ahmed Patel has dismissed this allegation.
