Enforcement Directorate issues summons to Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra's wife

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to Preeti Chandra, wife of embattled Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra, asking her to "forthwith" join investigation in its ongoing money laundering probe against the beleaguered realty firm.
The summons, issued on March 10, ask Preeti Chandra to "tender statement", said people in the know. Preeti was questioned for several hours on March 10 after she was stopped from boarding a flight to Dubai from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. She was stopped following a 'lookout notice' issued by probe agencies, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra were arrested by the Economic Offices Wing of the Delhi Police in March 2017 for having failed to complete a housing project on time in Gurgaon's Sector 70. Unitech, the real estate group, is also being probed by the ED on charges of money laundering and alleged siphoning of funds by its promoters. Probe agencies claim that money realised from flat buyers was siphoned off.

A forensic audit report submitted before the Supreme Court by Grant and Thornton in December 2019 claimed that ₹14,270 crore was collected by Unitech from 29,800 homebuyers. Out of that amount, ₹13,364 crore was traced to the bank statements. Almost 90% of the money was received between 2006 and 2014, the report claimed. Last week, the ED had carried out searches at 20 locations in Delhi and Mumbai in connection with the Unitech case.