Bank fraud case: ED attaches assets with Rs 53 crore of Delhi firm

New Delhi: Initiating action in yet another case of a high-value bank fraud, ED has attached assets worth Rs 53 crore of a Delhi-based perfume and mining firm in connection with its money laundering probe against it for allegedly creating bad debts of over Rs 2,000 crore.

The case pertains to Ms Surya Vinayak Industries Limited (SVIL), it's sister company Ms SVIL Mines and its directors against whom a consortium of about two dozen banks, led by Punjab National Bank, had registered a complaint for alleged diversion of funds and creation of bad debts on export finance funds extended by them to the company.

The first criminal complaint against the two firms and its directors was registered by the CBI in 2014 after which the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against it under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"The agency took up the investigation against Ms SVIL and others under the provisions of PMLA. The directors of the firm Sanjay Jain and Rajiv Jain withdrew the amount from concerned bank account against bogus bills and invoices through its sister concern and agents and further transferred to Ms SVIL Mines and others from where it was siphoned off leading to an outstanding of Rs 2066.46 crore in bad debts.

"Ms SVIL Mines also got loan from fourteen banks led by Punjab National Bank, leaving an outstanding of Rs 266.28 crore in bad debts," the agency said. It said immovable assets like factory land and other plots in Rohtak and Agartala of SVIL and its directors Sanjay and Rajiv Jain, worth Rs 52.87 crore, have been attached.

Two land properties of SVIL Mines in Madhya Pradesh's Katni district have also been attached under the same order issued under the PMLA, it said. It said the banks had complained that SVIL, through its directors, had stated to them that as on December 2012, its available stocks were to the tune of over Rs 800 crore against actual value of Rs 4.84 crore while the debt stood at Rs 1,937.02 crore.

The agency, a senior official said, is currently probing the alleged routing of bank funds to some offshore locations and are looking for more "proceeds of crime" for attachment and subsequent addition in the charge sheet to be filed in a court against the accused companies.

They said the firm is one of the prominent groups which have defaulted or allegedly perpetrated big bank loan frauds in the country. In a similar instance, the central probe agency had last week issued orders for attachment of assets worth Rs 112 crore of a Noida-based media firm in connection with its money laundering probe against it.

ED, in the recent past, had also attached assets under PMLA of few other companies defaulting bank loans even as it is probing the high-profile Kingfisher Airlines alleged loan fraud under the same laws.