by THO
MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has submitted a second supplementary chargesheet against 26 individuals or entities in the Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) money laundering investigation relating to the alleged fraudulent transfer of 30-odd office units at Andheri East’s business park, Kaledonia, belonging to Mack Star Marketing Private Limited. Among the individuals named in the charge sheet are HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang, and businessman Raj Shroff, son-in-law of former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde, and his two firms.
Mack Star allegedly suffered a “wrongful loss” of around ₹345.48 crore as a result of the irregular sale-transfer of the properties to a set of 12 purchase transactions, according to the charge sheet recently submitted to a special court.
The charge sheet draws attention to two office units in Kaledonia were sold or transferred to Jindal Combines Pvt Ltd and Orlando Trading Pvt Ltd, both owned by Shroff, which allegedly resulted in a loss of ₹16.09 crore to Mack Star, according to the charge sheet.
The charge sheet notes the difference in the sale agreement value between the two units, in 2014 and 2016, and states that the difference shows that the one of the units was undervalued to the tune of ₹6.25 crore even though both properties were of almost the same size.
Shroff, in his statement recorded by the ED, tried to justify the difference but his explanation “appeared very vague and unacceptable,” according to the charge sheet.
Also, the sale had allegedly taken place without the consent or knowledge of Mack Star’s majority shareholder, the Mauritius-based Ocean Deity Investment Holdings Limited (ODIL) / DE Shaw Group.
As part of a joint venture with HDIL, Mack Star had constructed a free-sale commercial building called Kaledonia, by purchasing development rights for ₹900 crore from partner HDIL. Funds of ₹100 crore were used for completion of the building’s construction. DE Shaw Group had invested around ₹1,000 crore in Mack Star in March 2008. The Kaledonia building was completed in 2011.
It was alleged that in 2011, a few office units in Kaledonia had been sold without prior notification to ODIL. This was followed by a series of alleged irregularities committed by HDIL promoters and directors, who continued to sell office units by misusing the management of Mack Star.
The charge sheet stated that HDIL promoter Rakesh Wadhawan did not answer questions relating to the sale or transfer of certain Kaledonia office units, and the adjustment of dues owed by the HDIL Group with the respective purchasers.
It went on to state that the Wadhawans had perpetrated the financial fraud with the help of the HDIL Group’s directors on the board of Mack Star, who were only “dummy directors”, so that the firm’s affairs could be controlled through them.
The ED’s investigation into the HDIL-Mack Star case began in October 2020, based on a CBI First Information Report of September 2020, where it was alleged that the Wadhawans had defrauded Mack Star by obtaining illegal loans of ₹200 crore from a private bank, Yes Bank, in Mack Star’s name by mortgaging its properties.
The Wadhawans had also allegedly illegally transferred certain Mack Star properties to creditors of HDIL. The ED therefore attached several properties at Kaledonia, including the office units purchased by Orlando Trading and Jindal Combines.
The ED later included in its investigation a February 2023 cheating case against the Wadhawans registered with the local police. The probe was taken over by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), on the ground that the case was an extension of a single, larger conspiracy as reflected in the CBI case.
The complainant was the managing director of Mack Star Marketing Private Limited, Sumit Saha, who had said in his statement that 23 Kaledonia office units had allegedly been illegally sold /transferred by the Wadhawans to their associates for personal gains. The Mumbai police FIR had alleged that the Wadhawans had cheated Mack Star of ₹88.47 crore.
Saha, meanwhile, on February 25, 2025 wrote to the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), protesting the EOW’s submission of a “closure report” in its case probe as reported by HT on Friday. The EOW’s closure report had stated that the conflict between the two partners of the firm was a civil one, ruling out any fraudulent conduct on the part of the Wadhawans in the allocation of certain office units in Kaledonia building.
The ED will study the EOW’s closure report to decide its future course of action.
