Hyderabad: Prosecute Taksheel Solutions directors, ED files complaint in court

Hyderabad: The sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have filed a prosecution complaint against the directors of the Hyderabad-based Taksheel Solutions for alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 80.50 crores.

The ED asked the court to prosecute Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia under the SEBI Act.

The ED investigated the case based on a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) against Taksheel Solutions Ltd, its promoters/directors and others for irregularities concerning its IPO (initial public offering).

Firm tried to profit from IPO proceeds

As per the ED’s probe, Pavan Kuchana, Nirmal Kotecha and Kishore Tapadia formulated a strategy to inflate the revenue of Taksheel Solutions for issuing an IPO and diverting and siphoning the IPO proceeds.

To facilitate the issue of IPO, Nirmal Kotecha arranged Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) to Taksheel Solutions Ltd. The said funds were rotated through US-based entities belonging to Pavan Kuchana and circular transactions were done with Taksheel Solutions Ltd before the IPO which resulted in incremental revenue and corresponding inflation of profitability. After the IPO, the ICDs were repaid from its proceeds.

The ED investigation further revealed that Rs 34.50 crores raised from the IPO was diverted and siphoned off to US-based entities of Pavan Kuchana on the pretext of payment for the supply of services.

Rs 18 crores written off as expenditure

From these US-based entities, a huge amount of money was further transferred to Singapore/Hong Kong-based entities under the control of Nirmal Kotecha. Out of the IPO proceeds, another amount of Rs 23 crores was transferred to Indian entities in the guise of purchasing software products and was eventually transferred to Nirmal Kotecha’s entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai.

Proceeds of crime, up to Rs 18 crores, were transferred from Taksheel Solutions to various individuals/entities on the pretext of IPO-related expenses, payments to vendors, STPI development expenses, salaries, etc.

ED had earlier arrested all the three accused namely, Nirmal Kotecha, Pavan Kumar Kuchana and Kishore Tapadia and attached movable and immovable properties to the tune of Rs 12.11 crores in the name of the accused persons under the provisions of the PMLA.