AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 103
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...., 6 DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 Mrs. Shallu Suri w/o Sh. Arun Suri 28.05 lacs 2 Shop No. 129, 1st Floor, 6 DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 Sh. Arun Suri 21.20 lacs 3 Shop No. 130, 1 Floor, 6 DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 Mrs. Shallu Suri w/o Sh. Arun Suri 21.20 lacs 4 Plot No. 307, 3rd Floor, 6 DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 Sh. Arun Suri 1.50 crores 5 Plot No. 8, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 M/s. S. T. Enterprises, a partnership firm of Sh. Arun Suri and his wife Smt. Shallu Suri 9.71 Crores 6 Plot No. 34, IInd Floor, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, New Delhi-110015 Mrs. Shallu Suri w/o Sh. Arun Suri 1.67 crores 7 Shop No. 4, 6, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, Delhi Sh. Arun Suri 1 crore 8 Shop No. 128, 1 Floor, 6, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar, Delhi Sh. Arun Suri 34.32 lacs 9 House No. 255, Sainik Vihar, Pitampura, New Delhi Sh. Arun Suri and his mother Smt. Viran Wali Suri 5.18 crores to the extent of 50% (2.59 crores) Total Value 17.52 crores 2. Ld. Counsel for the ....
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....opened in Bank of Baroda, Ashok Vihar Branch for the sole purpose of remitting the money outside India in the guise of payment made for import of software. The documentary evidences and statements of the concerned persons, however, have proved that the so-called import firms did not have the wherewithal and paraphernalia required for importing and processing the downloaded software. The fact that software was never downloaded and imported is further proved by the statements of Chartered Accountants (CA), whose fake certificates were submitted by the Appellant to show that software was downloaded and imported. The Appellant in his own statement has admitted that he was under investigation by DRI for import of Mobile Phones. Further in her statement CA Ms. Latesh Shree, revealed that the Appellant had submitted similar fake documents for import of software in Central Bank of India and had remitted foreign exchange. Thus, it goes to demonstrate that the Appellant had not only remitted foreign exchange from Bank of Baroda, Ashok Vihar Branch, but also, he had in the same brazen manner adopted the same fraudulent means to remit money abroad from other banks. Ld. Counsel contended that t....
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....there was admittedly, no intention to import any goods for which the money had been remitted. The sole intention of this modus-operandi was to park the money outside India for the utilization of the same by the exporters who had exported the goods by way of over-valuation and the importers who had imported the goods by way of under-valuation. (iv) In the similar manner, the Appellant generated and submitted declarations and fake invoices in Bank of Baroda, Ashok Vihar Branch in the name of the front companies created by him for the purpose of fraudulently remitting the Forex for the ostensible purpose of import of software on the strength of fake documents. Such documents provided by Bank of Baroda during the course of investigation have been relied upon. (v) Further scrutiny of these documents revealed that the Appellant had remitted money to Hong Kong based companies namely M/s Great Billion Dream and ABC International, from his own firm M/s Suri Devices, Moti Nagar, Industrial Area, New Delhi against purported import of software. Ld. Counsel stated that in his statement dated 24.07.2017, the Appellant was specifically asked about these remittances, and he categ....
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....eans and have admitted opening bank accounts to remit the funds abroad without making any imports. The network of the Appellant extended to the foreign jurisdictions, so as to open firms/companies in whose name the funds were remitted. The fraudulent action included submitting forged documents to the banks, so as to lead them to grant the foreign exchange for remittance abroad. We also note that the investigation has revealed that the Appellant used 59 Companies/concerns to make bogus remittances and indulge in the said fraud. We are unable to refrain from making the observation that the allegation against the Appellant is of such magnitude and scale that the attachment made of the properties of value of Rs. 17.52 crores is less than 50% of the alleged proceeds of crime attributed to the Appellant. 7. The Appellant has laid emphasis on the acquisition of the impugned properties having been made much before the alleged crime occurred. In this regard, the courts have repeatedly taken the position that the critical date with regard to the applicability of the provisions relating to attachment of properties under PMLA is the date of process or activity for the purpose of laundering ....
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.... such property is taken or held outside the country, then the property equivalent in value held within the country or abroad; Explanation. For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that "proceeds of crime" include property not only derived or obtained from the scheduled offence but also any property which may directly or indirectly be derived or obtained as a result of any criminal activity relatable to the scheduled offence;" The controversy relating to the status and the nature of the 'value thereof' of the proceeds of crime which is included in the definition of the proceeds of crime under Section 2(1)(u) of PMLA has been settled by the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary vs. Union of India (supra). The relevant paragraph from the Judgment is being quoted below: "68. It was also urged before us that the attachment of property must be equivalent in value of the proceeds of crime only if the proceeds of crime are situated outside India. This argument, in our opinion, is tenuous. For, the definition of "proceeds of crime" is wide enough to not only refer to the property derived or obtained as a result of crimi....
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.... In the considered opinion of this Court to tie the Directorate's power to move forward in this direction only in cases where property is taken or held outside the country would not only do violence to the plain language of Section 2(1)(u), it would clearly whittle down the scope and intent of the definition itself. It would essentially amount to erasing the expression value of any such property as appearing in Section 2(1)(u) altogether. The Court further notes that in Seema Garg the learned Judges themselves observed that the phrase value of any such property would not mean and include any property which has no link, direct or indirect, with property derived or obtained from commission of a scheduled offence. The Court observes that Section 2(1)(u) clearly and in unambiguous terms includes not only property derived or obtained directly or indirectly as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence but also the value of any such property. Seema Garg thus seems to gloss over the statutory imperatives underlying the deployment of the phrase ―or the value of any such property and the concept of deemed tainted properties enunciated in Axis Bank. On a plain textua....
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....ion under the Act in light of what this Court had held in Axis Bank. As was explained by the Court in Axis Bank, the expression proceeds of crime envisage both―tainted property as well as ―untainted property with it being permissible to proceed against the latter provided it is being attached as equal to the "value of any such property" or "property equivalent in value held within the country or abroad". However, both the italicised categories would be liable to be invoked in cases where the actual tainted property cannot be traced or found out. It is only where the respondents are unable to discover the tainted property that they can take the statutory recourse to move against properties which may fall within the ambit of―value of any such property or ―property equivalent in value held within the country or abroad. To the aforesaid limited extent, properties purchased prior to 01 July 2005 may also become vulnerable and subject to action under the Act. However, enforcement action against such properties would have to satisfy the tests and safeguards as propounded in Axis Bank with the learned Judge observing that in such a situation it would have to be esta....