Mumbai (The Hindu): NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s nephew, Sameer, was on Monday sent to judicial custody for 14 days. He was in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for five days following his arrest last week.

Mr Bhujbal was arrested on February 1 in a case of money laundering, siphoning off funds and causing a loss of Rs 840 crore to the exchequer, of which Rs 114 crores have been recovered.

While submitting its application for judicial custody, ED’s lawyer, Hiten Venegavkar informed the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that investigations are underway to locate and attach all the proceeds of crime committed by Mr Bhujbal under the PMLA Act.

In its application, the ED mentioned that Sameer Bhujbal’s chartered accountant, Sunil Naik, has given a statement in which he has admitted that he had contacted and proposed to market operators to take cash and provide cheques in the guise of share purchase on the instructions of Mr Bhujbal.

The ED stated that Mr Naik admitted that cash was handed over to such operators and that he used to interact with them regarding the logistics, negotiated their commission and that he was doing this on the directions of Sameer Bhujbal and the cash did not belong to him, but was the property of the Bhujbals.

The ED application also states that a director in a company has confessed that he was following instructions of Mr Bhujbal, who was the actual controller of entities.

The director said that the company that was awarded the contract for construction of Maharashtra Sadan had given a sub-contract for supply of furniture to the tune of Rs 6.50 crores and that it reveals the nexus of criminality in the entire matter.

It states, funds were also laundered in the guise of purported sale of shares on high premium by channelling huge cash to the tune of approximately Rs 125 crores in banking transactions.

The ED pointed out that the nature of the transactions is complex and that account books conveniently label the transfer of funds either as loan or advances. It told the court that their investigation does not reveal any actual business activities of the said companies. It noted that the economic rationale of forming a multitude of such companies could be to channelise or launder the proceeds generated out of criminal activity. Copies of agreements in support of the real estate deals are yet to be submitted.

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