The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from Piramal Group to Omkar developers accused of money laundering. Those were days when the Omkar group was considered the largest slum redeveloper in Mumbai.

ED officials gathered paperwork related to the loan and last month called the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Piramal Group’s to register his statement.

Last week, Rajesh Ladda, CEO, and CFO of the Piramal Group met with ED and presented some important documents. The Piramal group has issued over Rs 2,000 crore loans to Omkar disbursed in different installments. ED representatives said that once they have finished examining the documents, they can call Laddha or other Piramal Group leaders again for further explanation.

It was purely a business deal

An industry insider said Laddha had been called to the usual questions and answers regarding the Omkar group’s business loans. The source also added that Piramal Group received about 80% of the loan amount from the Omkar Developers.

A Piramal official is believed to have told ED that the group was in financial business and disbursed loans to Omkar. This comes under a purely commercial deal and agreements have been signed between them. These agreements, together with related documents, have been sent to ED.

Earlier, the Omkar group also told ED representatives that several years ago it took loans from the Piramal group and other financial institutions for its various projects. ED investigated the Omkar group when it took out a loan of about Rs 400 crore from Yes Bank to build buildings for slum dwellers. Under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme in Wadala, but diverted the money to other groups of companies.

Promoters arrested

Actor and businessman Sachin Joshi helped Omkar for laundering about Rs 87 crore. The loan money was not used for the intended purpose. In January, ED arrested Babulal Varma and Kamal Kishore Guptu (Omkar Group promoters). In a case along with JM Joshi Groups. Kamal Kishore Gupta and Babulal Varma are currently in jail. But the high court releases Joshi on bail for two months for health reasons.

The ED recently filed a charge of money laundering of Rs 400 crore against the arrested defendant and 14 companies associated with him. Further ED in the charge sheet stated that Omkar group manages 8 projects throughout the city for Rs 23,000 crore. They have taken out a loan of around Rs 8,000 crore from various banks and financial institutions. Yes Bank issued Rs 2,755 crore to Omkar Groups at a price of Rs 8,260 crore. The accounts for three Omkar group projects became NPA, including the Yes Bank loan for the Worli project.

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