ED attaches Rs 3.11 cr assets in Hyderabad Bank scam

HYDERABAD: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, has attached immovable properties valued at Rs 3.11 crore belonging to Sagiraju Suryanarayana Raju, Managing Director of Saisree Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (SEPL). The attachment was made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with a case involving the cheating and defrauding of the State Bank of India (formerly State Bank of Hyderabad), the officials said on Tuesday.

The ED’s investigation was initiated following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Chennai. The FIR, lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was based on complaints from the bank. According to the FIR, Saisree Engineers Pvt Ltd and its management engaged in a criminal conspiracy, defrauding the bank by submitting fabricated and forged documents and fictitious properties as collateral securities to obtain credit facilities amounting to Rs 15 crore. The ED’s investigation revealed that SEPL, represented by its directors, had availed credit facilities worth Rs 15 crores from SBI by offering collateral security in the form of non-agricultural land under the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority.

Further investigation under PMLA disclosed that funds from these credit facilities were dishonestly and fraudulently transferred to Sagiraju Suryanarayana Raju’s account at Andhra Bank. Additionally, instead of receiving funds into SEPL’s SBI loan account, the company and its directors diverted receivables amounting to Rs 13.53 crore from its vendor to another bank account of SEPL at Andhra Bank, subsequently using these funds for SEPL’s business purposes.