Kerala expats under ED scanner for money laundering: File photoPalakkad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched an investigation into illegal land deals involving Keralite expatriates and trusts they are linked to.
Top officials at ED said they have information on some such major deals in Kasargod, Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki districts.
The probe, under the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act (FERA), is being conducted on land deals in the name of expats who are not permanent residents of the country.
A penalty of Rs 7,00,000 was imposed recently on a couple in Kozhikode district who were found to have purchased 18 acres of rubber plantation and 5.5 acres of a farm land. Civil proceedings have also been initiated against them.
ED suspects that remittances from Keralites settled abroad have been diverted from stated purposes.
An expatriate from northern Kerala, living in the US, had obtained a loan of Rs 10 crore from a financing agency for rice export, but it was found that the agency for which the loan was drawn did not exist and that the export never happened.
Civil and criminal proceedings will soon be initiated against this person.
The ED is investigating 6 such cases in Kasargod, 7 in Wayanad and 4 in Idukki in the current phase of crackdown.
Deputy director V. Praveen said the directorate has the powers to attach the properties in case the deals are found illegal. Financial dealings of new real estate enterprises are also under scrutiny.
Read more at: Latest in Kerala | After Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath to cheer saffron brigade in Kannur today
