ED notice to NRI businessman for FEMA ‘breach’

THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate (ED) has issued a show cause notice to NRI businessman C C Thampi and his firms for alleged violation of forex laws amounting to over Rs 288 crore in acquiring vast tracts of land in Delhi and adjoining areas. The Enforcement Directorate had registered a case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Thampi in December last year.

The Indian Express on December 25 was first to report Thampi’s questioning by ED. The three firms that have been issued show cause notice, post-investigation, as part of the latest order, have been identified as Holiday City Centre Private Limited, Holiday Properties Private Limited and Holiday Bekal Resorts Private Limited.

Thampi is under the scanner for his reported dealings with some politicians and bureaucrats during UPA tenure. An NRI, he had acquired huge agricultural land mass in Palwal and Faridabad districts of Haryana in the name of his company Holiday City Centre Pvt Ltd by circumventing the prescribed law of land and in contravention of extant provision of FEMA, the ED said in a statement.

“In pursuant to a complaint, investigation was initiated, which revealed that Thampi was residing outside India and he had advanced unsecured loans to his three companies which was later converted into equity in his name and in the name of his family members in these companies,” it said.

ED said, by using the “said funds he had acquired huge agricultural land mass in Palwal, National Capital Region (NCR) and Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh” through the above mentioned companies, which he otherwise would not have been able to purchase, being a person residing outside India.

“The agricultural land purchased by Thampi through the above mentioned companies in contravention of the relevant provisions of FEMA has also been proposed therein for confiscation to the Central government account,” it said. “The FEMA contravention identified in the show cause notice is over Rs 288 crore,” ED said.