Opposing the bail petition of Emaar MGF managing director Shravan Gupta, who is facing charges in the MGF-APIIC township scam, the CBI said in court that Mr Gupta has US $1.5 million in accounts in HSBC bank in Switzerland. The bail application was being heard in the court of the first additional special judge for CBI cases. The CBI alleged that Mr Gupta voluntarily disclosed to the income-tax authorities in November 2011 that he has a deposit of US$1.5 million in a Swiss account.
The CBI prosecutor also said that in December 2009, the Enforcement Director-ate had seized Rs 8.7 crore in cash, 3 kg of gold ornaments and Rs 12 lakh in foreign currency from Mr Gupta. The CBI said that it suspects that the amount in the Swiss accounts and that seized by the ED could be the proceeds of the sale of villa plots. The CBI is contemplating freezing of these Swiss accounts. The CBI also alleged that Mr Gupta, against whom a chargesheet has been filed and an arrest warrant is sought, is avoiding probe by staying in the UK for three months. The CBI rejected his claim that this was on account of ill health.
The investigating agency said Mr Gupta floated 10 suitcase companies, seven in Delhi and three in Ernakulam, with MGF employees as directors, and got 18 villa plots blocked. He along with Srikanth Joshi, CEO of Emaar MGF, and finance head Vijay Raghav, swindled the amount payable to Emaar Hills Township Private Limited (EHTPL).
The agency found that Rs 48 crore was payable to EHTPL by Emaar MGF, which was to be further shared with APIIC. The CBI alleged that this amount was never transferred to the book of accounts of EHTPL in order to deprive APIIC of its due share of the revenue. The counsel for Mr Shravan Gupta, Mr Diljit Singh Ahluwalia, refuted the CBI’s allegations.