Mumbai:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated eight flats and five car parking spaces of singer Adnan Sami in a high rise building in Mumbai and slapped an Rs 20 lakh fine on him for acquiring assets without permission of Reserve Bank of India as he was a Pakistani national.
The properties, located in Oberoi Sky Garden Housing Society in posh Lokhandwala complex in suburban Andheri, were acquired by Sami in 2003 in violation of Foreign Exchange Management (acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India) Regulations, 2000, ED sources said.
Under these regulations, any person, who is a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanisthan, China, Iran, Nepal or Bhutan cannot purchase or transfer any kind of immovable property in India without taking permission of the RBI.
The properties were confiscated following an order passed by Foreign Exchange Management Act adjudication authority.
Confirming the development, Sami's lawyer Vibhav Krishna said, "We have received a copy of the order but the properties have not yet been confiscated. We have a right to appeal before the appellate forum of FEMA and we shall exercise this right within two days."
Sami had purchased these properties in 2003 for Rs 2.53 crore. In 2008, he gifted five flats and three parking slots to his wife Sabah Galadari, a UAE national.
Later, his relations with Sabah turned sour and she filed a divorce case against him. Sabah claimed that the flats gifted by Sami now belonged to her, although he disputed her plea in the court which declared their marriage null and void.
ED confiscated the flats saying purchase of all the properties as well as transfer of five flats and three parking slots to Sabah were illegal and violated FEMA laws.
It had earlier sent notice to Sami asking him to show cause why flats and parking spaces should not be confiscated. He was also called for questioning early this year.