Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez has been charge-sheeted by Enforcement Directorate(ED) for being an alleged beneficiary in ₹200 crore money laundering case registered against conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
The agency officials stated that she is the only accused named in the supplementary charge-sheet filed in the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi on Wednesday. The court will take cognisance of the chargesheet on August 31.
The actor, in a statement to ED recorded last year, had accepted that she had "received" gifts from Chandrashekhar such as three designer bags from Gucci, Chanel, two Gucci outfits for gym wear, a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes, two pairs of diamond earrings, a bracelet of multi-coloured stones, and two Hermes bracelets. Fernandez, however, stated that she had returned a Mini Cooper car gifted to her by the conman.
Gifts of crime
In April, the ED had provisionally attached ₹7.27 crore worth assets of the actor under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), besides ₹15 lakh in cash, treating both as "proceeds of crime".
"Sukesh Chandrashekhar had given various gifts worth ₹5.71 crore to Jacqueline Fernandez from the proceeds of criminal activities including extortion," the ED had said at the time of attaching the actor's assets. The agency had also charged that "Chandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani, his long-time associate and co-accused in this case, to deliver the said gifts to her".
The conman, arrested by the Delhi Police last August on charges of extorting Religare promoters, Shivender Singh and Aditi Singh, also gave "funds to the tune of $1,72,913 (about ₹1.3 crore as per current exchange rate) and AUD 26,740 (approx. ₹14 lakh) to the close family members of Fernandez out of the proceeds of crime through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established and well known international hawala operator," the agency had earlier stated.