IT attaches FDI of USD 40 million, bungalow of Ratul Puri and Deepak Puri

New Delhi: The Income Tax department has attached Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $40 million of businessmen Ratul Puri and Deepak Puri on Sunday, informed sources.

Also, properties of both under Benami Property Transactions Act, including one immovable property registered in name of Ramaa Advisors Pvt Ltd. situated at APJ Abul Kalam Road (Aurengzeb Road) has been attached, according to sources.

So far, Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) has attached funds of USD 95 million and a Bungalow at 27-A Aurangzeb Road.

"The immovable property at 27A APJ Abdul Kalam Road was purchased utilizing a Foreign Direct Investment of USD 3 Million from a BVI based shell company namely Bronson Financial Inc. on a long-term basis for the purposes of software development in 2002," the source informed.

"Investigation revealed that unaccounted funds of promoters were round-tripped through BVI based shell entity. The recipient company never commenced its business of software development. Instead, entire FDI was diverted for the acquisition of house for use by the promoters Ratul Puri and his family. The market value of this property is estimated to be more than Rs 300 crores," it said.

Hours after a Delhi court issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against Ratul Puri on Friday, he denied his involvement in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam and called the issuance of the warrant as "unfortunate". The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland. The deal was scrapped by the NDA government in 2014 over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks for securing the deal.