Originally Syndicated on May 31, 2024 @ 9:01 am
The CBI claims that money was received as commission from the fertiliser supplier through the use of middlemen, group companies, and hawala operators controlled by Rajiv Saxena, who is also a defendant in the AgustaWestland investigation.
Ratul Puri, the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was summoned before a Delhi court in relation to a money laundering investigation into an alleged fertiliser fraud.
The individuals in question engaged in a criminal conspiracy between 2007 and 2014 to defraud IFFCO and Indian Potash Limited by importing fertilisers and other supplies for the manufacturing of fertilisers at inflated rates and claiming greater subsidies from the central government. This resulted in a loss of crores of rupees, which led to the ED investigation. This case stemmed from a CBI case.
The Enforcement Directorate claims that the fertiliser scam case, which also involves Amarendra Dhari Singh of the Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha and US Awasthi, the managing director and CEO of IFFCO, is related to purportedly unlawful payments made by foreign suppliers to Awasthi’s nonresident individuals sons, PS Gahlaut, the managing director of Indian Potash Ltd, and other individuals for more than $685 crore between 2007 and 2014.
Fertiliser suppliers allegedly paid money as commission to Rajiv Saxena, a defendant in the Agusta-Westland case, through the use of group firms, middlemen, and hawala operators. In the Agusta-Westland lawsuit, Saxena is also a defendant. The ED said that Puri had helped the accused by hiding the proceeds of the crime and passing them off as real estate.
The court concludes that an offence has been committed and that Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) have been breached.
The ED had claimed that Saxena had given proceeds of crime to people like Sanjay Jain, who had combined the proceeds through the Saxena family of companies, the Alankit family of companies, Rayon Trading Company, and Moser Baer India Ltd. company of Ratul Puri, “whereby he came into possession of an amount of Rs 78,39,82,343 which was nothing but continues of crime.” The court had accepted the ED’s allegations.
However, due to inadequate evidence, the court decided not to summon the remaining five defendants.
Along with a bank fraud investigation, the ED has captured Ratul Puri.
Ratul Puri, a former executive director of Moser Baer and the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was detained by the Enforcement Directorate following a case of bank fraud worth Rs 354 billion that was brought by the Central Bank of India.
Based on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file, the agency filed a late-night money laundering charge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Ratul Puri and others.
Ratul Puri was taken into custody early from his home in Delhi and is scheduled to appear before a special ED court later today.
In order to examine Ratul Puri about the bank fraud case that the CBI has initiated, the ED will request that the municipal court grant them custody of him.
Ratul Puri, his business, his father, Deepak Puri, the managing director, and the directors Nita Puri (Ratul’s mother and Kamal Nath’s sister), Sanjay Jain, and Vineet Sharma are all under investigation by the CBI.
The CBI conducted searches at six locations, including the accused directors’ homes and offices.
While his parents continued to serve on the board, Ratul Puri resigned from his post as executive director of Moser Baer in 2012, according to a statement from the Central Bank of India.
The company produces compact discs, DVDs, and solid-state storage units as optical storage mediums.
The bank claimed in the complaint, which is now a part of the CBI FIR, that it had taken out loans from several different lenders since 2009 and had repeatedly restructured its debt.
On April 20, 2019, the Central Bank of India declared the account to be “fraud” due to its inability to make the repayments.
According to the CBI case, Ratul Puri defrauded the complaining bank through his company, causing them to benefit unfairly and the lending bank, which is a custodian of public funds, to lose unfairly.
The company produces compact discs, DVDs, and solid-state storage units as optical storage mediums. The bank claimed in the complaint, which is now a part of the CBI FIR, that it had taken out loans from several different lenders since 2009 and had repeatedly restructured its debt.
On April 20, 2019, the Central Bank of India declared the account to be “fraud” due to its inability to make the repayments. According to the CBI case, Ratul Puri defrauded the complaining bank through his company, causing them to benefit unfairly and the lending bank, which is a custodian of public funds, to lose unfairly.
In the lawsuit, it is claimed that “MBIL has fraudulently inflicted loss to our bank to the tune of Rs 354.51 crore as on November 29, 2014, and interest thereon.” The ED also wants to question Ratul Puri as part of the inquiry into the sale of an AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter.
Businessman Ratul Puri is granted bail by a Delhi court in the fertilizer dispute.
Ratul Puri, the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was granted bail by a Delhi court in a money laundering case involving an alleged fertiliser scam.
As Mr. Puri arrived in court as a result of a summons that had been issued against him, Special Judge Vikas Dhull gave him relief.
On December 23, when the court was reviewing an additional charge sheet in the case, it gave Mr. Puri a call.
An Delhi court granted bail to Ratul Puri, the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in a money laundering case involving an alleged fertilizer scheme that reportedly received a bribe of 685 crore.
After receiving an order, Mr. Puri showed up in court, and Special Judge Vikas Dhull granted him relief.
The court called Mr. Puri on December 23 as it was announcing a new charge sheet in the case.
In addition, Mr. Puri is a defendant in matters including the AgustaWestland helicopter scandal and the Moser Baer fraud. Right now, he is free and out on bail.
The ED claims that the fertilizer scam case, which also involves Amarendra Dhari Singh, a member of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, and U S Awasthi, the CEO and managing director of IFFCO, is about alleged illegal fees totaling more than 685 crores that were paid by foreign suppliers to Awasthi’s nonresident Indian sons, Indian Potash Ltd. (IPL) managing director P S Gahlaut, and other individuals between 2007 and 2014.
According to the ED, the government subsidises IPL, a division of Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), as a fertilizer supplier in order to maintain reasonable prices.
The accusations state that Mr. Awasthi and other IFFCO members obtained income illegally, amassed it through a number of unrelated companies, and then gave a portion of those profits to the companies they controlled.
Early Life
Pittsburgh’s renowned Carnegie Mellon University, a global research centre, awarded Ratul Puri a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, and mathematics.
In 2008, Ratul began producing electricity in association with Hindustan Power Projects. Puri is the nephew of Kamal Nath, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and member of the Congress party.
Given that he leads the power committee for the CII-Northern Region, frequently attends the World Economic Forum, and actively participates in the Forum, Ratul Puri describes himself as gregarious. He led the conversation on climate adaptation at the WEF in 2016 and co-chaired the Energy track at the India National Strategy Day. He is a major proponent of the creative financing agenda.
Ratul Puri describes himself as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Hindustan Power Projects.
Previously known as Moser Baer Projects Pvt. Ltd., Ratul Puri founded Hindustan Powerprojects Private Ltd. (HPPPL) in India. It functions in the thermal, solar, hydro, and mining vertical markets for power production, power trading, EPC, and renewable energy. The company is the fastest-growing comprehensive electricity supplier in India, with current assets of approximately 14,500 crores.
The company’s main office is in New Delhi, the capital of the country. By 2020, more solar, hydro, and thermal energy projects will be operational, predicts HPPPL. To activate more than 5000 MW of total power assets by 2017 at an expected investment of INR 32,000 crores, the business is well along in this process.
The chairman of the organization is Ratul Puri. India’s Lajpat Shrivastav serves as Thermal’s CEO. Dr. Harish Ahuja is the President of Strategy and Corporate Affairs, Arun Kanchan is the CEO of New Business, and Rajya Wardhan Ghei is the CEO of Solar Business. Awadh Bihari Giri is the department head of Hydro.
Plans have been made by Hindustan Powerprojects (HPPPL) for a unit IPO. Blackstone Group LP (BX) is the company’s sponsor. As it prepares to treble investment in photovoltaic projects to $50 billion by 2016, it plans to sell shares in its solar business. Over the next two years, the unit will need to invest $45 billion on a pipeline of projects.
The Final Word
Russia and Belarus are major suppliers of fertilizer, accounting for 20% of the world market share each. The issue is that Belarus’s supply has been limited as a result of the limitations it has been subjected to. We also have problems with supply disruptions caused by supply chain optimization, which has resulted in a drop in fertilizer exports from Russia and Belarus as well as a decrease in the amount of fertilizer produced domestically in both countries.
Another aspect of the issue is that some fertilizers, especially those based on nitrogen, depend mostly on natural gas as an input. There is currently a decrease in the availability of fertilizers outside of due to the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on natural gas supplies, as well as prior to the conflict. Due to the effect of the Ukraine war on natural gas supplies (and even before the war), there is currently a drop in the availability of fertilizers outside of Belarus and Russia. Additionally, we face other issues including export restrictions. As a result, we are today dealing with a global problem that is in some way tied to the conflict due to policies and growing prices for energy.
