Kerala: ED raids Manappuram Finance premises on laundering charges

New Delhi/Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at multiple premises linked to prominent Kerala-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) Manappuram Finance Ltd. as part of a money laundering investigation against it, official sources said.

The raids are being undertaken to gather pieces of evidence related to allegations that the company collected public deposits worth more than Rs 150 crore in contravention of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, they said.

A total of four premises including the headquarters of the company in Thrissur and those of its MD and CEO V P Nandakumar were searched, they said.
The company said in a stock exchange filing that it was extending full cooperation to the agency.

"The ED is conducting a search at our Registered Office. We are extending full cooperation to the Department, including providing complete information sought by them.

"As the search is ongoing, we will be able to provide more information on its completion. Manappuram Finance Limited has always adhered to the best practices in corporate governance and compliances," the company said.

The agency, according to sources, suspects "large-scale" cash transactions by the company and is looking at gathering documents and recording statements of the company executives in this context.

Some documents are understood to have been seized by the ED officials during the searches.

The company offers a string of products portfolio like online gold loan, micro-home finance, forex and money transfer, business loan, secured personal loan among others.