The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday, 10th October, has taken possession of 15 different immovable properties owned by former Union Minister A Raja.
The ED informed regarding the seizure of the 15 properties indirectly owned by the former Union Cabinet Minister of Environment and Forest. Raja owns these properties via his Benami company M/s Kovai Shelters Promoters India Pvt Ltd, the ED informed. The ED has taken possession of Raja’s benami properties under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, in a disproportionate assets case.
In December last year, the ED had provisionally attached 45 acres of land in Coimbatore belonging to A Raja’s company under provisions of the PMLA. The land, worth around Rs 55 crores, was purchased from bribe money from a large Gurugram-based real estate company in exchange for environmental clearance when Raja was the minister for Environment and Forest under the UPA government in 2007, as per reports.
The said land was also registered in the name of the same Kovai Shelters Promoters India Pvt Ltd.
The said benami company was incorporated in the same year and was registered in the name of Raja’s family members, as per the ED. However, the sole purpose of the company was to park proceeds of crime by A Raja, the ED had added then.
The DMK MP and former Union minister was in news recently for his Hinduphobic statements. “Udhayanidhi only compared Sanatan Dharma to diseases like Malaria and dengue as he had a soft approach. “Sanatan Dharma should be compared to diseases with social stigma like HIV and leprosy,” A Raja had said.