ED Summons Edelweiss Boss In Rs 2,000-Crore Forex Scam

Edelweiss Group Founder & Chairman Rashesh Shah has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged Rs 2,000-crore foreign exchange smuggling scam, according to reports.

Allegedly, Shah's benami firms have been under the ED's scanner for a while.

However, Edelweiss has issued a statement that reports of the ED action are false and that it will issue a press release clarifying about the whole affair to the stock exchanges very soon.

According to ED's documents, Rashesh Shah's “front entities” gave the lead about his alleged involvement in the forex smuggling scam and that his associates in his benami companies have been under investigation for a while.

The ED investigation papers also alleged that the scam of smuggling precious foreign exchange is of an “extremely serious nature”.

As per ED probe documents, the size and scale of the scam is believed to be “so massive” that the ED decided to issue the summons.

The ED's probe documents also alleged that another branch of the ED in Mumbai probing “similar cases” against him, adding that “several cases are waiting to get registered” against Shah, which “he has successfully managed to fend off so far”.

The Edelweiss Group was set up as a non-bank lender by its chairman Rashesh Shah, 55, after he quit his job with ICICI in May 1995.

Earlier, he earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and worked for Prime Securities Ltd in Mumbai before moving to ICICI where he analyzed companies, projects, profitability, and profit drivers.

Currently, the Edelweiss Group also runs a housing finance company, a capital markets business, an asset management business, wealth management business, an asset reconstruction company, as well as a brokerage.

It acquired JPMorgan Chase & Company’s onshore mutual fund business, JPMorgan Asset Management Company in 2016.

The Edelweiss Group is a diversified financial services entity with presence in areas like credit (retail, corporate), investment and advisory (wealth management, asset management and capital markets) as well as insurance (life, general).

The group has a 1.2 million strong client base which is serviced through a network of more than 476 offices, with close to 11,000 employees. Together with a strong network of sub-brokers and authorized persons, it has a presence across all major cities in India.