On ED’s request, Interpol issues Purple Notice to combat financial crime

New Delhi, Aug 29 The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) published a Purple Notice on the request of the Enforcement Directorate in a case exposing a trade-based money laundering scheme using shell entities, an official said on Friday.

The money laundering was carried out using under-invoiced imports and forged documents, said the official.

He said a Purple Notice is one of eight types of notices published by Interpol, providing member countries with “information on modus operandi, objects, devices and concealment methods used by criminals.”

The official said the publishing of such a request on the Indian agency’s request reiterates the country’s leadership in the global efforts to combat financial crime.

Earlier, the ED’s Panaji zone officials provisionally attached immovable properties, including multiple plots of land and a residential villa in South Goa, valued at Rs 2.86 crore under PMLA, 2002, in the case of bank fraud against Canara Bank involving Crown Minerals Trading Corporation (CMTC) and others.

The provisional attachment was carried out on Thursday, and the attached properties consist of 22 plots in Dharbandora belonging to partner Riyaz Shaikh, and two plots of land in Cuncolim and a Row Villa in Fatorda belonging to Managing Partner Aditya Angle. These properties have been attached as they were acquired from illicit funds and represent the value of the POC, said an official.

The ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR and a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Goa, against CMTC and its partners. The partners were accused of entering into a criminal conspiracy to cheat Canara Bank by fraudulently obtaining a loan facility of Rs 7 crore, which was later defaulted upon.

The investigation by the federal agency revealed that the partners of CMTC obtained an Open Cash Credit (OCC) facility of Rs 7 crore from Canara Bank on the false pretext of conducting business in the raw iron ore trade.

The accused dishonestly mortgaged properties as collateral security that were already pledged with several other banks and financial institutions, the ED said.

Immediately after the loan was disbursed, the funds were siphoned off and diverted to the personal and proprietary bank accounts of the partners under the guise of fake business transactions, it said.

These illicit funds, which constitute the Proceeds of Crime (POC), were then used for personal enrichment and to acquire other immovable properties, the ED said.

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