Officials from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) provisionally attached movable and immovable properties to the tune of ₹12.11 crore in the case of Initial Public Offer (IPO) scam of Taksheel Solutions Limited, Hyderabad. ED officials said that the properties belonged to Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia and were attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002.
The ED had initiated investigation following a complaint from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against M/s Taksheel Solutions Limited, its promoters/directors and others. The complaint alleged irregularities with respect to the IPO of 55 lakh shares of ₹10 each for which the issue price was fixed at ₹150 and through which Taksheel raised ₹80.50 crore.
An ED probe revealed that Pavan Kuchana, Nirmal Kotecha and Kishore Tapadia formulated a planned strategy to inflate the revenue of M/s Taksheel Solutions Limited for issuing IPO and for subsequently diverting and siphoning off the IPO proceeds. “To facilitate the issue of IPO, Nirmal Kotecha arranged for Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) of ₹34.50 crore to Taksheel Solutions Ltd. The funds were rotated through US-based entities belonging to Kuchana and circular transactions were done with Taksheel Solutions Ltd before the IPO. This resulted in incremental revenue and corresponding inflation of profitability. Subsequent to the IPO, the ICDs were repaid from the IPO proceeds,” explained an official release by the ED.
Their investigation also revealed that out of the IPO proceeds of ₹80.50 crore, an amount of ₹34.50 crore was diverted and siphoned off to US-based entities of Kuchana on the pretext of payment for supply of services. From these US-based entities, ₹30.15 crore was further transferred to Singapore/Hong Kong-based entities under the control of Kotecha. Out of the IPO proceeds, another amount of ₹23 crore was transferred to Indian entities in the guise of purchase of software products and was eventually transferred to Kotecha’s entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai. Proceeds of crime of ₹18 crore were transferred from Taksheel Solutions Ltd to various individuals/entities on the pretext of IPO related expenses, payments to vendors, STPI development expenses, salaries, etc.
Earlier, the ED had arrested Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kumar Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia. While Nirmal Kotecha and Kishore Tapadia were granted bail by Telangana High Court on December 6, Pavan Kuchana is still in judicial custody.
