The Enforcement Directorate's (ED) search of Rajesh Exports Ltd.'s premises revealed mulitple contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), according to a post from the investigation agency on Wednesday.
The violations included missing records for overseas transactions, Rs. 3,000 crore in opaque trade set-offs, a 40% stock mismatch, and share-manipulation involving offshore benamidars.
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The law enforcement body stated that investigation is ongoing. During the course of the search action, various incriminating documents and digital evidences have been seized and/or recovered, the ED said.
The economic intelligence agency noted that the finanical compensation paid to senior management was unusually low compared to the scale of the company's operations.
"The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has not received any salary since 2020, while the Managing Director (MD) was paid only about Rs.17,000 per month, despite the company reporting consolidated revenue of approximately Rs. 7.7 lakh crore," the ED wrote in its press release.
The agency also found out that about Rs 3000 crore of trade receivables and that payables were set off against four to five foreign entities based in the UAE and overseas jurisdictions. The law enforcement agency had previously deemed them to have "dubious credentials."
The ED also found that the firm has ostensibly invested more than Rs 1,000 crores in African gold mines, with this investment not reflecting in the books of accounts of any of its subsidiaries.
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Its investigation also uncovered suspicious block trades in the stocks of the company executed by certain individuals whose names also showed up in the leaks released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), pointing to likely undisclosed offshore links, which are under examination.
"For example, it was revealed that over Rs. 600 Crore were siphoned out of India through share-manipulation using NRI benamidars," the ED said.
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