Jan.09, 2010, 03:30am IST

At a time when exports had hit a slump and many businesses had folded up, there were a few shining exceptions. One SEZ thrived in times of crisis. It is only now that the Enforcement Directorate has found that the balance sheets did not tell the real story. Investigation into the ‘Great Jharkhand Loot’, allegedly involving former CM Madhu Koda, has revealed a bigger scam at the Noida Special Economic Zone (NSEZ) concerning fictitious trade in gold and diamonds besides a land swindle. The scale of the scam runs into several thousand crores.

Sources said the SEZ in question had a turnover of around Rs 16,000 crore last year of which more than 62% of the trade, nearly Rs 10,000 crore, was in gold, platinum and diamonds, most of which had allegedly been imported from Dubai and re-exported to the same destination.

Investigators probing the case believe most of these dealings were done on paper only to facilitate banking transactions to launder money to Dubai and from there to a third country. The companies allegedly involved in the scam, which have now been barred from operating in bullion trade from the SEZ on suspicion of money laundering, allegedly belong to Sanjay Choudhary and other Koda aides and their business partner Manoj Punamia.

The three firms — Balaji Universal Trade Link, Balaji Bullion and Balaji Universal Trade Link Manufacturing — had been operating out of the SEZ and had traded in gold and diamonds worth nearly Rs 100 crore in the last one-and-a-half years of its existence in the SEZ, sources said.

The probe agency has also been trying to ascertain how Punamia was able to purchase a plot in SEZ despite a huge queue of exporters. This has brought the NSEZ authorities and Customs officials under the scanner of investigative agencies.

Development commissioner S C Panda of the SEZ, when contacted, refused to come on line. Punamia, however, told TOI over phone from Mumbai that he was not involved in any illegal trade and had bought the SEZ plot for genuine export. He claimed that he was being framed.

A plot in the export zone can only be allotted by the SEZ authority on a sub-lease of Rs 61/sqm to an exporter following due diligence process. In case the original property is pre-owned and has a building, the new allottee has to pay for the structure. Customs officials posted in the zone are tasked to ensure that a unit is genuinely involved in export-import business and value addition (manufacturing) is being made at the SEZ.

However, sources said at least 30-40 plots within the SEZ were sold by original allottees in connivance with officials with the help of property dealers freely operating from nearby areas quoting a price tag of Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per sqm. Noida SEZ has a land-mass of 400 acres.

The investigation has revealed that another firm which is under the scanner had traded in bullion and other metals worth Rs 5,500 crore in a year and re-exported them without adding any value.