Kolkata, Dec 2 Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Kolkata Zonal Office has attached property worth Rs 199.67 crore in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh in connection with a money laundering case involving Prakash Vanijya Private Limited and its promoter-director Manoj Kumar Jain, who defrauded the Central Bank of India to the tune of Rs 234.57 crore, the agency said on Tuesday.
“ED investigation revealed that funds were illegally diverted after obtaining credit facilities based on inflated financial statements and forged documentation, causing a loss of Rs 234.57 crore to the Central Bank of India. ED initiated an investigation under the provisions of PMLA, leading to attachment of multiple properties in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh worth Rs 199.67 crore through four provisional attachment orders, which were subsequently confirmed by the Hon’ble Adjudicating Authority,” ED said in a statement.
In another statement, also issued on Tuesday, ED claimed to have issued provisional attachment orders to attach movable and immovable properties worth approximately Rs 3.98 crore, including a residential flat in connection with the central agency’s ongoing investigation in connection with a trade-based money laundering (TBML) syndicate involving Yecnail Enterprises Private Ltd and several associated entities.
“The investigation has uncovered a sophisticated trade-based money laundering (TBML) scheme in which a syndicate created and controlled a network of shell importing entities to fraudulently remit funds outside India. These dummy companies declared imports of low-value stones as high-value precious and semi-precious stones, using over-invoiced import documents and fabricated valuation reports prepared in collusion with government-approved valuers and customs house agents (CHAs). Funds were first layered through multiple shell entities within India and then remitted abroad as purported import payments, enabling the syndicate to illegally transfer hundreds of crores out of the country under the guise of legitimate trade,” the statement by ED read.
During the last couple of months, the agency has been extremely active in West Bengal, conducting raids and search operations in different pockets of the state.
The high-profile financial irregularities cases on which ED has become active again include the cash for municipalities' jobs case, the coal smuggling case, and the sand smuggling case, among others.
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