The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned NCP leader Praful Patel on 18 October in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal assets of Iqbal Mirchi, who used to be a close aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
A drug smuggler, Mirchi had died in 2013 in London.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, 15 October, Patel rubbished as "mere speculation" reports about his alleged deal in Mumbai with Iqbal Mirchi.
“Documents may have been leaked to media. Obviously, you are in possession of some papers, which may have never been brought to my attention,” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
It was reported that Mirchi's wife Hajra Memon entered into a property deal with the Patel family.
The ED has claimed that Millennium Developers, a firm run by Praful Patel, transferred two floors in Mumbai's Ceejay House to Hajra in 2007 "towards beneficial interest of Mirchi in the land" on which it was built.
“My family owns Millennium. No one else is a partner... There’s not even a single paisa worth property transaction between the Patel family and Hajra Memon.”Praful Patel, as quoted by PTI
“We are nowhere directly looking after the property and neither are we directly in charge of it,” the former Union minister went on to add.
The ED is expected to record Patel's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the property deal. He has been questioned by the ED in an another money laundering case linked to an alleged aviation scam.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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