ED takes possession of 15 'benami' assets linked to DMK MP A Raja

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has taken possession of 15 immovable "benami" properties, worth about Rs 55 crore, alleged to be belonging to DMK MP A Raja as part of a money laundering probe against the former Union telecom minister.

In a statement, the ED said it has "taken possession of 15 immovable properties owned by A Raja in the name of his benami company Kovai Shelters Promoters India Pvt Ltd, under the PMLA, in the matter of a disproportionate assets case of A Raja, former Union cabinet minister of environment and forest, subsequent to confirmation of the provisional attachment order by the Hon'ble Adjudicating Authority".

The assets, measuring about 45 acres of land in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), were attached by the central agency in December last year and the Adjudicating Authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) approved this order on June 1.

Benami means 'no name' or 'without name' and such properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

The 59-year-old Raja is currently a DMK MP from the the Nilgiris Lok Sabha seat.