Mumbai: Alleging that Rs 47.32 crore meant for execution of the Pune Waste to Energy Project was misappropriated through the creation and use of forged and dummy invoices, and that the funds were diverted for buying luxury cars and high-end properties, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Prateek Kanakia, the founder of private firm, The Green Billions Ltd (TGBL), in a money laundering case. Kanakia was produced before the special PMLA court on Tuesday which remanded him to ED custody till Jan 9. The ED’s complaint is based on the fraud case allegedly involving the former CMD of BECIL (Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited), a government enterprise, and other individuals. Kanakia was earlier arrested by the CBI. “…the prime accused, Mr. Prateek Kanakia, along with co-accused conspired a grave offence, by generating proceeds of crime, affecting the country’s economy. Such kind of offences are more dangerous than any other offence for a developing country,” the ED submitted.Seeking his custody, the ED submitted that from the chargesheet filed by the CBI, ACB, and the investigation conducted, it has been observed that funds amounting to Rs 250 crore were advanced by BECIL to M/s TheGreenBillions Limited (TGBL) for execution of the Pune Waste to Energy Project. Out of the amount, Rs 2.68 crore was returned by TGBL to BECIL during the Financial Year 2022-2023. It was alleged that the remaining amount was misappropriated by M/s TGBL and its promoter Kanakia, in collusion with their associates.
