New Delhi, May 10 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that they have filed a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) against Venus Aqua Food Ltd, its Managing Director, and others for taking loan of several crores of rupees from Andhra Bank for farming project and invested them in a Tollywood movie.
The money invested in Tollywood movie "Aakashame Haddu" was considered as "proceeds of crime" by the ED as it was taken for agriculture activities.
The charge sheet was filed before a special court in Visakhapatnam against the company, its Managing Director Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, and S. Ramchander Rao, the then Chief Manager of Andhra Bank, and few others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in a case related to multi-crore bank fraud.
The court, after receiving the charge sheet, took cognisance of it and fixed the consideration for the next date of hearing.
The ED initiated money-laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the CBI under various sections of Indian Penal Code, and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The ED learnt in the investigation Venus Aqua Foods, its directors and their family members have availed loan for cultivating pisciculture activities and Agriculture Cash credit loans (AGLCC) from Andhra Bank in connivance with the Chief Manager of Andhra Bank but did not utilise the loan for the intended purpose.
Investigation revealed that loans were withdrawn in cash and diverted to repay old loans and purchasing immovable properties in the name of directors of Venus Aqua Foodsand their family members. The money was even diverted to produce the Tollywood movie and thereby, they caused loss of Rs 54.64 crore to the public sector bank.
The ED had earlier attached the properties of Ramakrishna and others to the tune of Rs 13.75 crore.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor