ED attaches assets worth over Rs 33 crore in bank fraud case
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 33.84 crore of accused in a Rs 299 crore bank fraud case.
The assets have been attached under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case of Buyers Credit fraud in the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chandigarh, the ED said in a statement.
The assets include a residential township at Solan in Himachal Pradesh; factory land, building, plant and machinery of Geoxa Steels Private Limited at Ludhiana; various residential and commercial properties of one of the accused Amanpreet Singh Sodhi, his wife Sarabjit Kaur and other family members and associates, the ED said.
Other attached assets include, residential property at Chandigarh owned by then IOB Assistant Manager Ashu Mehra, plots in Punjab owned by accused Gaurav Kirpal, his wife Bhawna Kirpal and his other family members, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate has already freezed/attached various assets worth Rs 48.96 crore of the accused under the PMLA.
The ED initiated the probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI under relevant provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, the statement said.
The CBI had registered the case for the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct/abuse of official position against Mehra, three Indian importer applicants -- Heights International whose proprietor is Amanpreet Singh Sodhi, Vision Procon whose proprietor is Dinesh Kumar and Saibhakti Impex Private Limited having Gaurav Kirpal and Aman Kirpal as its directors and others, it said.
According to the ED, Mehra had issued 15 fraudulent Buyers Credit/Letter of Undertakings (LOUs) in the name of the applicant importer firms resulting in the creation of liability to the tune of Rs 321 crore on the Indian Overseas bank.
