New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached land worth Rs 598 crore in Uttar Pradesh's Agra district as part of a money laundering investigation against realty company Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd. (APIL).

The case pertains to "large-scale" irregularities in the acquisition and subsequent release of land in sectors 58-63 and 65-67 in Gurugram, Haryana.

The federal probe agency said in a statement that it issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach land in Agra worth more than Rs 598 crore.

These properties are held in the names of associate companies and individuals acting on behalf of APIL. These entities were created and used as land-holding vehicles, while the entire funding, control and beneficial ownership vested with the company, the ED said.

According to the case, land was originally notified for acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, for stated public purposes such as development by HUDA and creation of a land bank.

"However, most of such land was subsequently released to private colonizers through a fraudulent and collusive process," the ED alleged.

Such action "undermines" the statutory safeguards governing land acquisition and compromised the transparency expected in matters involving public purpose by the state government, it said.

The money laundering case stems from a January, 2019 FIR filed by the CBI against APIL, some government officials and private developers and colonisers. The CBI registered the case on the Supreme Court's directions.

The ED found that APIL entered into collaboration agreements and obtained General Power of Attorneys (GPAs) from individual landowners in respect of land already notified for acquisition.

These agreements suffered from "serious" irregularities, including absence of consideration prior to issuance of Section 4 notification, lack of essential contractual terms, and post-facto alterations, it said.

"Following the issuance of acquisition notifications by the state government, the notified status of the land created uncertainty and directly weakened the bargaining position of individual landowners.

"In such circumstances, transfers were facilitated in favour of private colonizers at rates substantially below prevailing market value, resulting in wrongful gain to the company and corresponding financial detriment to the affected landholders," the ED said.

The licenced land, as per the agency, has been utilised for development of projects named "Esencia" and "Versalia." As the land has been fully developed and sold to third-party buyers, it no longer retains its original physical identity, it said. PTI NES ZMN ZMN