ED attaches Hero MotoCorp chairman Pawan Munjal's assets worth ₹24 crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached three properties worth ₹24.95 crore of Pawan Munjal, CMD and chairman of Hero MotoCorp, in New Delhi under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.According to a press statement by the anti-money laundering agency, ED officials initiated the investigation on the basis of a "Prosecution Complaint filed by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) u/s 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 against P K Munjal, Chairman and CMD of M/s Hero Motocorp and others for taking foreign exchange/currency out of India illegally". The complaint alleges that Foreign Currency/ Foreign Exchange equivalent to Rs. 54 Crore was illegally taken out of India.

ED probe revealed that the business tycoon got issued foreign exchange/ foreign currency in the name of other persons and thereafter utilised the same for his personal expenditure abroad. The foreign exchange was drawn from authorised dealers by an event management company in the name of various employees and thereafter handed over to Munjal's relationship manager, ED said. The agency added that Munjal's relationship manager carried such foreign currency/ foreign exchange in cash/ card secretly during the personal/business trips of the CEO."The modus was adopted to override the limits of $2.5 Lakh per annum per person under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme," according to ED's statement.

Earlier, ED conducted a search operation on 1 August this year with respect to Munjal and other related people and seized valuables worth ₹25 crore (approx) along with digital evidence and other incriminating evidence. The total value of seizure and attachment stands at about ₹50 Crore. Earlier, this month, Pawan Munjal, Executive Chairman of Hero MotoCorp, has volunteered to take a 20 percent pay cut following separation of the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company. In FY23, Hero Moto paid Rs 99.55 crore as remuneration to Pawan Munjal, which was 18.02 percent higher than previous year. After a 20 percent cut, it will be around Rs 80 crore. In comparison, the median remuneration of employees of the company during the FY23 was Rs 12.25 lakh.