A special money laundering court here has ordered seizure of over a dozen high-end branded watches belonging to arms businessman Abhishek Verma and his wife in connection with a probe against them for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss defence firm to keep it out of the government's blacklist.
The watches, valued at Rs 44.25 lakh, have been termed as "proceeds of crime" of money laundering after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2012 slapped charges against the couple under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The classic time pieces were first seized by the ED in October last year after which it approached the court to confirm its action.
The sixteen watches sport some of the costliest and most popular international tags like Rolex, Luminor Panerai, Hubolt Geneve, Louis Vuitton, Blancpain, Bvlgari, Franck Muller, Gianni Versace, Omega, Franck Muller, Calvin Klein Jeans, Piaget, Ulyssee Nardin and Longines.
"No doubt the properties (watches) attached are proceeds of crime/value thereof and are involved in money laundering," the court of the Adjudicating Authority of PMLA Mukesh Kumar said in its latest order.
The Authority is a judicial body set up to decide cases of strict enforcement action.
The watches also belong to Verma's wife Ancia Maria Neascu who has been arrested in the same case which is being probed both by the ED and CBI.
Attachment proceedings in the case have been initiated in order to cripple the beneficiary (Verma and wife) from enjoying the benefits arising out from the assets.
The ED had begun probe against Verma and his wife on the basis of the CBI complaint against Verma where he has been accused of taking USD 5,30,000 from Swiss firm Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) scam had surfaced.
Verma is already being probed by the agency in the Naval war room leak case for alleged violations of foreign exchange laws.
The agency is also working on a complaint filed by Verma in a court alleging that his US-based business partner C Edmonds Allen, an American attorney, and Delhi-based Arjun Arora had duped him of Rs 55 crore, which was to be paid to him in lieu of his consultancy service provided to them.
