Months after questioning former Indian cricketers, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India said Thursday that it has attached movable and immovable assets worth approximately Indian Rs. 111.4 million belonging to Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan in connection with a money laundering case linked to 1xBet, an online betting platform.
The attachment includes mutual fund investments worth approximately Indian Rs 66.4 million held in the name of Raina, as well as an immovable property valued at Indian Rs 45 million in the name of Dhawan, according to ED officials.
In September, ED recorded the statements of Dhawan, Raina, Yuvraj Singh, and Robin Uthappa in the case.
An ED spokesperson said in a statement that the agency’s investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is based on multiple FIRs registered by the police in several states against the operators of the illegal offshore betting platform 1xBet.
The investigation also revealed that Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan knowingly entered into endorsement agreements with foreign entities for the promotion of 1xBet through their surrogates.
“These endorsements were made in return for payments routed through foreign entities to conceal the illicit origin of the funds, which are linked to proceeds of crime generated from illegal betting activities,” the spokesperson said.
“Probe has revealed that 1xBet and its surrogate brand 1xBat, 1xbat Sporting lines were engaged in promoting and facilitating illegal online betting and gambling operations across India,” the spokesperson added.
1xBet operated in India without authorisation and used surrogate branding and advertisements to target Indian users through social media, online videos, and print media, the investigation also shows.
“Payments for endorsements were structured through layered transactions using foreign intermediaries to disguise the illegal source of funds. The attachment follows ED’s search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA),” the spokesperson said.
Apart from former Indian cricketers, ED also summoned and recorded statements of actor Sonu Sood, former TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty, Bollywood actor Urvashi Rautela, and Bengali actor Ankush Hazra.
The spokesperson said multiple searches were conducted, resulting in the seizure of incriminating evidence based on the evidence and findings. “Over 60 bank accounts linked to these payment gateways have been frozen. An amount of over Rs 40 million has been frozen so far.”
“Probe has also revealed that 1xbet was facilitating betting and gambling for Indian users by collecting money through various mule accounts and it came to fore so far that they had used over 6,000 mule accounts for deposits. Amounts collected from users in these mule accounts were routed through multiple payment gateways to disguise their origin and merchants were onboarded on these gateways without any KYC verifications,” the spokesperson said.
“On verification of profile of these merchants, it is seen that the entities declared business activities did not match their transaction patterns, indicating laundering of funds exceeding Rs 1000 crore,” the spokesperson added. (Indian Express)
