ED tells apex court Unitech assets worth ₹600cr attached
The report came at a time when the court is considering a resolution plan submitted by the new board of Unitech group which intends to construct and deliver close to 5,000 of the 15,000 flats in the next two years.
Money-laundering probe against the promoters of Unitech group, accused of diverting ₹5,000 crore of homebuyers’ money, has led to provisional attachment of their assets worth ₹600 crore, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
In a status report submitted to the top court on their investigation carried out so far, the ED represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Madhavi Divan said the report has been filed in a sealed cover and will require consideration by the court.
The bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah agreed to take up the ED report on Wednesday and asked ASG Divan on the details of property attached so far. ASG Divan said, “Property worth ₹600 crore has been provisionally attached while an amount of ₹1,400 crore was found to have been diverted.”
The report came at a time when the court is considering a resolution plan submitted by the new board of Unitech group which intends to construct and deliver close to 5,000 of the 15,000 flats in the next two years.
A short note prepared by the new board said, “Construction of 15,000 units has to be done by the New Management for delivery of possession to homebuyers. At current prices, estimated cost of construction is ₹5,500-6,000 crores. If construction is not done, the refund claims of homebuyers are approximately ₹11,100 crores.”
Seeking urgent order, the new board represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) N Venkataraman sought orders from the court to expedite payments due from homebuyers worth ₹3,354 crore. The bench said, “The whole success of this mission will depend on homebuyers contributing the money. But they will prefer plucking the low-lying fruits. If you first begin with projects which are substantially advanced in terms of construction, there will be greater willingness on part of homebuyers to pay the money.”
Venkatraman informed the court that this factor has been considered by the board and the 15,000 flats have been categorized into three grades. The first grade includes projects which are self-sustaining and require the aid of money from homebuyers. Under this, 2,500 dwelling units are proposed to be handed over within a year and another 2,500 units within the second year. The projects under the second grade will require fund resources in addition to the deposit from homebuyers and the third phase will include those projects where only 20%-30% work is complete.
The erstwhile Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra deposited a sum of ₹377 crore with the Supreme Court registry. The new management also intends monetise unsold inventory (in the form of land parcels) in the name of Unitech group which could fetch roughly ₹5,641 crore. In addition, the sale of unsold flats across various Unitech housing projects is also expected to contribute a little over ₹3,500 crore, the note supplied by the board said.
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