21/6/2019
PUNE: The ED
conducted multiple searches in Maharashtra on Thursday against a Pune-based
alloy-making group on charges of money laundering through an alleged bank fraud
to the tune of about Rs 300 crore.
The central agency said it raided the factory and residential
premises of Varron Aluminium Private Limited (VAPL) and Varron Auto Comp
Private Limited (VACL) in Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli and Nagpur in a case in which
the Bank of India (BoI) was cheated by alleged misuse of the Letters of Credit
(LC) facility. An LC denotes an official letter issued by a bank to another
bank to serve as a guarantee for payments made to a specified person under
specified conditions.
The searches were carried out after the Enforcement
Directorate (ED) filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act
(PMLA), based on an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The
BoI was the complainant in the case, the ED said.
The agency, in a statement, said VAPL maintained a current
bank account with the Karve Road branch of the BoI in Pune and that the firm
"submitted LCs and bills drawn from a Canara Bank branch in the same city,
which were negotiated or discounted" in favour of the BoI.
Later, when the BoI approached the Canara Bank for re-payment
of dues, the latter informed that "the purported LC was neither issued nor
bills were accepted by their branch through the approved mode of Structured
Financial Messaging System (SFMS) and thus, they did not entertain the
repayment request of the BoI, the ED alleged. "This resulted in a loss to the Bank of India," the
agency said.
It said Shrikant Pandhurang Sawaikar, the director and the
main man behind VAPL, along with Canara Bank officials and other private
individuals, "entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the BoI".
"In pursuance to the said criminal conspiracy, a
non-genuine LC, commercial invoices and lorry receipts were used for the
release of Rs 293 crore in the account of VAPL," the ED said, adding that
it resulted in a fraud and the bank suffering losses.
The agency said its probe, so far, had revealed that the said
money "was immediately transferred through various accounts and finally
utilised for settling old dues and making fixed deposits" by the accused. Further
investigation to establish the money trail and attachment of assets was under
progress, it added.
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