MISA’S DELHI FARMHOUSE ‘AN ASSET OF MONEY LAUNDERING’

NEW DELHI: A designated authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has held that a Delhi farmhouse, attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the name of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti and her husband is “involved” in money laundering and ordered that the attachment of the asset will continue.

The central probe agency had provisionally attached the immovable asset, located on a 12-bigha land in south Delhi’s Bijwasan area, in September last year under the PMLA.

The attachment will remain in force until the prosecution currently on in a PMLA court is settled. If the court passes an order of confiscation, the attachment order will attain finality.

The property belongs to Misa Bharti and husband Shailesh Kumar and is “held in the name of Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd”, the central probe agency had said.

The agency had said that its investigation had found that the farmhouse was purchased “using ~1.2 crore involved in money laundering in the year 2008-09”. The accused can appeal against the order before the Appellate Tribunal.

The ED is probing Misa Bharti, an RJD MP in the Rajya Sabha, and her husband as part of its criminal probe in a ~8,000 crore alleged money laundering case involving shell or bogus companies and two Delhi-based alleged entry operators Surendra Jain and Virendra Jain.