A COMPANY co-owned by a cousin of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged payments of Rs 10.9 crore that, the agency suspects, was routed to the NCP leader through a string of firms, records reviewed by The Indian Express show.
The company being probed, Innowave Engineering and Advisors Pvt Ltd, is owned by Satyajeet Deshmukh and is a sub-contractor to US-based Louis Berger, the project management consultant for the Versova-Bandra Sea Link project. It is also a sub-consultant for two other high-profile projects that are ongoing: Mumbai coastal road and Mumbai-Nagpur expressway.
Records show that while the project management consultant for the three projects were different entities who got the contracts between 2017 and 2018, Innowave was appointed sub-consultant by all of them between 2018 and 2020.
Innowave has not done any consultancy projects in the past, according to statements submitted by Satyajeet to ED. They also show that on three occasions between September and October 2021, Satyajeet was questioned by the agency about his visits to and alleged presence in official meetings at Deshmukh’s official residence.
They show that he was also probed on Innowave’s role in the three projects and the alleged transaction of Rs 10.9 crore between the company and two firms associated with another co-owner and single-largest shareholder Ajay Dhawangale. According to Innowave’s shareholding structure, Satyajeet holds 30 per cent stake and Dhawangale 70 per cent stake as on March 2020.
Records show that Satyajeet allegedly told ED that joined Innowave, previously known as Akola Online Ltd, in 2018 as its managing director and chief executive officer.
In the same year, according to Satyajeet’s statements to ED, Innowave entered into two deals. It sealed a consultancy contract for the coastal road with a joint venture between a Korean company, Yooshin Engineering Corporation and a Spanish company, Tec4. It was also hired as a sub-consultant for the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway project by Yooshin Engineering and Ahmedabad-based Multimedia Consulting.
In July 2020, Innowave became a sub-consultant to Louis Berger on the sea link project.
Between 2018 and 2020, according to ED sources, the agency flagged two allegedly suspicious transactions by Innowave. The first was of Rs 3.81 crore allegedly paid to Ansh Infratech Pvt Ltd, which is controlled by Dhawangale and shown as cost for material and interior work whereas no work was done or material provided, according to Satyajeet’s statements.
The second, in 2019-20, was payment of Rs 7.10 crore to two firms controlled by Dhawangale — Advance Project Management Consultants and Global Business Advisory Services — when “actually no services have been rendered”, according to the statements.
“On being asked, I state that Shri Ajay Dhawangale being from Nagpur has his own connections with Shri Anil Deshmukh, the then Home Minister of Maharashtra, and Shri Ajay Dhawangale had been meeting Shri Anil Deshmukh and Shri Hrishikesh Deshmukh at Dnyaneshwari,” Satyajeet’s statement says.
“On being asked (whether) the abovesaid amount of approx Rs 10.9 crore has gone to Shri Anil Deshmukh through Shri Ajay Dhawangale, I state that in this regard, Shri Ajay Dhawangale will be in a better position to reply as he had been close to Shri Anil Deshmukh,” it says.
Anil Deshmukh has told ED that he knows Dhawangale who is from Nagpur and is into business but said that he is not aware about details. “This case is separate from the money laundering case filed against Deshmukh as transactions connected to Innowave are not related to transfer and postings of police officers or collection of goodwill money from bar owners. Our investigation in this case is underway,” said an ED official, adding that Dhawangale has been summoned twice so far.
Records available with ED show that Innowave has allegedly received over Rs 20 crore in consultancy fee for the three projects so far.
Anil Deshmukh has denied all of wrongdoing including money-laundering claimed by ED. When contacted, Deshmukh’s lawyer Aniket Nikam said: “Under the garb of probing money laundering connected to the CBI FIR, the ED is going beyond the scope of the probe.”
Emails sent to Yooshin Engineering, Louis Berger, Multimedia Consulting and Tec4 did not elicit any response. When contacted, Satyajeet said: “The company is nowhere related to Mr Anil Deshmukh. It is an independent consulting firm. On the transactions, the ED cross-checked with us and found nothing suspicious. We have provided ED with all details.”
Dhawangale said he has provided an explanation to ED on the Rs 10.9-crore payment. “The money was given to my brother. I have given all the documents to the ED, which show that there was no cash removed from my brother’s account or any other transactions to show that the money was deposited to another account,” he said, adding that the two sub-contracts were received in 2018 when Deshmukh’s party was not in power, nor was he an MLA.
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