Sahara's Lucknow HQ pivotal in Rs 25,000 crore money laundering, ED tells Allahabad HC

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has informed the Allahabad High Court that all deposit-taking entities of the Sahara group relied on the same set of Sahara India branches, agents, and infrastructure, including bank accounts.

The investigative agency said that during the re-deposit of funds, “there was no bank account transfer and only books of different entities were adjusted,” underscoring that the group’s headquarters in Lucknow was central to the alleged money laundering activities involving deposits of around Rs 25,000 crore.

In a recent affidavit, the ED said, “At the time of re-deposit of funds, there was no bank account transfer and only books of different entities were adjusted. Thus, all key decisions were taken by the head office at Lucknow.” The agency also accused Sahara group’s chairman, managing director, and board members of their involvement in the alleged ‘scam’.

“The maturity amount of one scheme of Sahara group was re-deposited into an existing ‘new’ scheme and for that no bank account transfer used to take place. The depositors were left with no option but to re-deposit in its other existing scheme since the branch office of Sahara India was not making repayment,” the ED claimed.

The court, on a prima facie basis, noted that Sahara group entities continued to receive deposits despite a Supreme Court-imposed restriction, indicating involvement in alleged money laundering.

In 2023, the Supreme Court had ordered the Sahara group to transfer Rs 5,000 crore from the total Rs 24,979.6 crore lying in the Sahara-SEBI refund account to the central registrar of cooperative societies, which would then disburse it against legitimate dues of depositors.

(With inputs from ToI)