ED may register fresh PMLA case against Abhishek Verma

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate may register a fresh money laundering case against arms dealer Abhishek Verma for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss defence firm to keep it out of the government's blacklist.

The ED, which has been probing Verma and his associates in the Naval war room leak case for alleged violations of forex and money laundering laws, has got new information based on the latest FIR filed by the CBI against the arms dealer.

The fresh case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act could be registered on the basis of this CBI complaint against Verma, where he has been accused of taking USD 5,30,000 from Swiss firm Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) scam had surfaced.

The agency has already gone through the recent complaint filed by Verma in a court alleging that his US-based business partner C Edmonds Allen, an American attorney, and Delhi- based Arjun Arora had duped him of Rs 55 crore, which was to be paid to him in lieu of his consultancy service to them.

The ED sleuths, according to sources, are in touch with Allen in this case.

Verma and his wife Ancia Neascu, arrested by CBI on June 8, are at present in judicial custody.