ED files money laundering case against ABG Shipyard in bank loan fraud of nearly Rs 23,000 crore
Highlights
- ED has filed a money laundering case against ABG shipyard.
- The case has been filed in relation to the Rs 23,000 crore bank loan fraud.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday filed a money laundering case against ABG shipyard in the money laundering case involving a bank fraud of Rs. 22, 842 crores. ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI on Tuesday issued lookout notices against Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, the former chairman and managing director of ABG Shipyard, and eight others.
The ED has provisionally attached immovable properties in the case of Ramsarup Lohh Udyog Ltd in the form of landed measuring 354.25 acres under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a Coal Block case. During the investigation, it was revealed that Ramsarup Lohh Udyog Ltd had been allotted Moira Madhujore of the North and South Coal Block for captive mining in the State of West Bengal along with 5 joint allottees.
The book value is Rs 5.29 Crore and the present market value of the said property is estimated to be Rs. 445.59 Crore.
On Tuesday, the CBI had also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal, and Ravi Vimal Nevetia, and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offenses of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.
In continuation of the investigation, the CBI conducted searches at 13 locations on February 12. Officials claimed they had received several incriminating documents, such as books of accounts of the accused borrower company, which was being scrutinized.
The bank had first filed a complaint on November 8, 2019, on which the central investigation agency had sought some clarifications on March 12, 2020. The bank filed a fresh complaint in August that year. After "scrutinizing" for over one- a and-a-half-years, the CBI acted on the complaint, filing an FIR on February 7, 2022.
