ED arrests man under PMLA in Rs 750 cr bank loan fraud

Update: 2020-10-31 17:47 GMT

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a person in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 750 crore bank loan fraud committed by misusing credit facilities, the central probe agency said on Saturday.

It said Sai Chandrasekhar was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on Friday following which a local court here sent him to seven days ED custody.

The money laundering case against Chandrasekhar pertains to a probe initiated by the agency against Virkaran Awasty, Vinod Sirohi and

KPMG India Pvt Ltd, it said in a statement.

The PMLA case was filed against them after studying an FIR registered by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police on the basis of a complaint received from Hassad Netherlands BV.

Hassad Netherlands BV, a subsidiary of Hassad Food Company, was "induced" by Virkaran Awasty and Ritika Awasty, Directors of Bush Foods Overseas Pvt Ltd, to part with funds amounting to USD 120 million (about Rs 750 crore) by misrepresenting the level of stocks/inventory, the ED alleged.

"On the basis of such misrepresentations, the accused persons induced

Hassad Netherlands BV to provide corporate guarantee for the outstanding amount of Rs 714 crore of credit facilities availed from consortium of

banks.

"Credit facilities were availed by Bush Foods Overseas Pvt Ltd on the basis of non-existent stocks and inventory," the agency claimed.

Probe found, it said, Virkaran Awasty along with other directors created bogus stocks by inflating the inventory and fabricating financial statements of the company.

"Bulk transactions of sales and purchases were generated so that Bush Foods could record increased turnover, profit margins and additional stock by generating approximately equal value of sales and purchases in a year.

"Artificial profit and artificial stock in the book value of inventory was recorded in the books by showing these bulk sales as domestic sales," it

alleged.

Chandrasekhar, it said, was an employee of Hassad Foods Company and was part of team which evaluated the transactions.

The agency charged that Chandrasekhar "colluded and conspired" with Virkaran Awasty to "cheat" Hassad Netherlands. 

Similar News