Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa's son Abir Lavasa and a company associated with him are reportedly facing probe from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations. The investigation is the latest initiated by central agencies against the family members of Lavasa, who had dissented against the Election Commission for giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for violating the Model Code of Conduct during the general elections in May.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the Rs 7.25 crore raised by Nourish Organic Foods Pvt Ltd in March 2019 is under the ED lens for alleged violation of foreign exchange laws. Abir is a director at Nourish Organic Foods from November, 2017 and holds 10,000 shares as part of an employee stock option plan last financial year.
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Nourish Organic Foods raised the amount from Saama Capital, a Mauritius-based India-focused early-stage investor, which has invested in a number of start-ups in India including Paytm, ChaiPoint, Vistaar (NBFC), Snapdeal and SKS Microfinance.
Reportedly, the agency has sent summons to Abir last week for appearance before the Investigating Officer of the case. "He made an appearance last Friday and was given a week to furnish documents related to the funds raised. ED is learnt to have also sent a summons to the director of Saama Capital," the report added. Confirming the probe, an ED official told The Indian Express that they were probing how a loss-making Nourish Organic Foods "received heavy investments at a premium".
The probe comes more than a month after media reports said the income tax department sent notices to Ashok Lavasa's wife Novel Singhal Lavasa, sister Shakuntala Lavasa and Abir. Following this, the tax department had surveyed the books of accounts of Nourish Organic Foods Ltd. Hearings in the cases are in progress. Besides, on August 29 the government wrote to 11 PSUs to verify their records for any exercise of “undue influence” by Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa during his tenure in the Power Ministry from 2009 to 2013.
In May, Lavasa had courted controversy when he opposed the clean chit given to PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for illegal speeches made during Lok Sabha election campaigns.