ED raids CA in Jharkhand in undisclosed foreign assets case

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches against a Ranchi-based CA along with his associates in a case linked to alleged possession of undisclosed assets abroad, officials said.

The premises of Naresh Kumar Kejriwal, a Chartered Accountant and suspected hawala operator, some of his family members and associates are being searched in Ranchi, Mumbai and Surat under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), they said.

The action stem from Income Tax Department findings which allege that Kejriwal controls ''undisclosed'' foreign shell entities in the UAE, Nigeria, and the the US which are managed effectively from India, ED officials said.

These assets are stated to have accumulated over Rs 900 crore in unexplained reserves and it is suspected that about Rs 1,500 crore was routed back to India through ''bogus'' telegraphic transfers, they said.

As these foreign assets were not disclosed in statutory filings and appear to be vehicles for large-scale illicit fund layering, the search is critical to secure incriminating digital and documentary evidence of these unauthorised cross-border dealings, they said.

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