Bank loan fraud: ED attaches Rs 10 crore assets of Tamil Nadu firm

Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 10 crore of a Tamil Nadu-based firm in connection with its money laundering probe in an alleged bank loan fraud estimated at Rs 50 crore.

The agency said it has attached seven immovable assets of Ms ARI Fabrics Private Limited in the Dindigul district of the state under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act after it registered a case based on an earlier CBI FIR.

The Enforcement Directorate said the case pertains to one G Srinivasan of Pamba Spinning Mill Private Ltd in Tiruppur district who had allegedly defrauded Ms Global Trade Finance Limited (now SBI Global Factors Limited) to the tune of Rs 50 crore by furnishing "fabricated collateral securities and availing bill discounting in the name of fictitious firms."

"The said funds were invested in purchase of various properties. The investigations revealed that a part of the proceeds of crime has been invested in acquiring Ms ARI Fabrics Private Limited. Accordingly, properties valued at Rs 10.7 crore were attached provisionally under PMLA," it said.

With the latest order, it said, the total attachments in the case stand at 31.2 crore.

An attachment order under PMLA laws is aimed to deprive the accused from obtaining benefits of their alleged ill-gotten wealth and the accused parties can appeal against the order before the Adjudicating Authority of the said Act within 180 days

ED is probing a number of bank defualt cases across the country including the high-profile ones involving Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and Winsome Diamonds firm among others.