Adnan Sami to file appeal against enforcement directorate order to confiscate flats

Singer Adnan Sami will soon file an appeal against an order of enforcement directorate (ED) to confiscate his eight flats and five parking slots in a high rise building in Mumbai, his lawyer said today.

The ED order imposing a Rs20 lakh fine for buying properties without permission of Reserve Bank of India since he was a Pakistani citizen will also be challenged, Vibhav Krishna said.

Under section 19 of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), Adnan can file an appeal within 45 days and until then he would continue to occupy the premises, ED sources said.

Asked when Sami would file an appeal, his lawyer said a draft was being prepared and very soon the singer would challenge the order of the adjudicating authority under FEMA which operates through ED.

The appeal would be filed in New Delhi before the Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange (FEMA) under the law ministry, Krishna said.

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 Reserve Bank of India.

The properties were confiscated following an order passed by adjudicating authority under FEMA.