The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated eight flats and five car parking spaces of singer Adnan Sami in a high rise building and slapped a fine of Rs 20 lakh for acquiring assets without permission of Reserve Bank of India as he is 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 RBI. The properties were confiscated following an order passed by Foreign Exchange Management Act adjudication authority. Confirming the development,Samis 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.
