New Delhi [India]: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached 11 immovable properties worth Rs 42.36 crore of a Kolkata based company for defrauding State Bank of India to the tune of Rs 164 crore by availing loan on the basis of false documents, the agency said on Monday. The properties belong to the directors of Shree Mahalaxmi Corporation Pvt Ltd, and its assets were attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of FIR dated March 28, 2017, and charge-sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Kolkata on December 30, 2019, under the sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Shree Mahalaxmi Corporation, its directors and other persons, for defrauding the State Bank of India to the extent of Rs 164 Crore by availing loan on the basis of false and forged documents and utilising the loan amount for a purpose other than for which it was sanctioned. Investigation under PMLA revealed that loan amount of Rs 164 crore was diverted after rotating amongst the bank accounts maintained by various entities and given colour of genuine business transactions, said the ED. “It was further revealed that various Letters of Credit (LCs) were opened in the name of certain companies against the credit facilities and the same were discounted on the basis of forged invoices, challans etc. The LC proceeds were thereafter laundered and siphoned off,” the federal agency said.
