Lucknow, July 25 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out search operations at ten premises located in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in connection with an alleged bank loan diversion and money-laundering case involving M/s Santosh Overseas Ltd (SOL), officials said on Saturday.
The searches were conducted by the Lucknow Zonal Office under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, at premises linked to the company’s promoters, associated companies, facilitators, family members and other related entities.
The investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following a complaint from IDBI Bank on behalf of a consortium of banks.
According to the ED, SOL had availed bank loans that were fraudulently diverted and siphoned off, resulting in a wrongful loss of nearly Rs 450 crore to the lender banks.
The ED’s probe has revealed that the promoters of SOL diverted and laundered the proceeds of crime through a complex network of shell entities, accommodation entry operators and related concerns.
The funds were moved using bogus purchase and sale transactions, fake invoices and circular movement of money that had no genuine underlying business activity.
Investigators found that several shell entities were created solely for routing funds and generating accommodation entries.
These entities were set up using forged or misused identity documents.
The agency also detected round-tripping of funds through multiple entities controlled by the promoters and their family members, pointing to systematic layering and integration of the proceeds of crime.
The searches were conducted at the residential and official premises of the promoters, their family members, associated entities, accommodation entry operators and the statutory auditor connected with the alleged laundering activities.
During the operations, cash amounting to Rs 10.5 lakh was seized.
Officials also recovered records relating to assets valued at nearly Rs 75 crore standing in the names of family members and their entities.
In addition, various incriminating documents, digital devices and financial records pertaining to the diversion, layering and siphoning of funds were seized.
The ED has said that further investigation into the matter is under progress.
The agency is examining the trail of funds and the role of various entities and individuals in the alleged money-laundering activities linked to the bank loan fraud.
–IANS
sktr/khz
