Raj Thackeray

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing how MNS chief Raj Thackeray walked out of Matoshree Realtors, one of the partners in the consortium constructing Kohinoor Square Towers in Dadar, with a profit of Rs 20 crore without any evident personal investment. He held a 25% stake in the firm.

ED may call Raj for a second round of questioning after examining the documents gathered to obtain more clarity.

Raj and seven others, including his friend Rajan Shirodkar, had formed Matoshree Realtors, which took Rs 3 crore in loan from a cooperative bank and got another Rs 1 crore as capital from questionable entities, said sources.

Raj Thackeray, partner told ED profit was due to rise in land price

In 2005, Matoshree Realtors invested Rs 4 crore in the Kohinoor tower project, but exited in 2008 after surrendering its rights to Kohinoor CTNL (the company building the tower) for Rs 80 crore. Of this, Rs 20 crore was paid to Raj, added the sources.

Raj and Rajan Shirodkar told ED officials that they made a profit from the project because of appreciation in the land price.

Matoshree Realtors, along with former CM Manohar Joshi’s son Unmesh’s Kohinoor group and one more company, had formed a joint venture—Kohinoor Projects Pvt Ltd (KPPL). This company held a 51% stake in Kohinoor CTNL while the remaining 49% equity shares were with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

When Matoshree surrendered its rights in KPPL in 2008, it got Rs 80 crore. Of this, Rs 20 crore went to Raj as his share in the company and the rest was divided among the remaining seven partners. Raj invested his money in immovable assets and other business ventures. His business partners also invested their share in immovable assets. Now, ED is examining if Raj has any interest in those properties.

Surprisingly, in 2008, IL&FS, which had invested Rs 225 crore in Kohinoor CTNL, had surrendered its equity shares for Rs 90 crore and recorded a loss. At the time of the exit, IL&FS had given Rs 35 crore loan to Kohinoor CTNL.

Shirodkar claimed the actual investment of Matoshree Realtors in Kohinoor CTNL was Rs 40 crore, and not Rs 4 crore. Some entities directly pumped around Rs 36 crore into Kohinoor CTNL accounts without any agreement. He reportedly told ED that this investment was done on his instruction and, hence, it be treated as Matoshree’s investment in the consortium.

ED is not satisfied and is probing the transactions. Its officials say they learnt that Kohinoor CTNL, mostly managed by Unmesh, returned the Rs 36 crore with interest. It also returned Matoshree’s Rs 4 crore. Apart from all this, Kohinoor CTNL paid Rs 80 crore to Matoshree Realtors.

ED officials are examining the documents to ascertain if Matoshree Realtors had invested in KPPL as a partner in the company that was purchasing Kohinoor Mills No. 3 land for constructing the building or towards cost of residential and commercial premises in the proposed building.

