ED attaches assets worth Rs 12.80 cr in bank loan fraud case

New Delhi, May 2 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday that it has attached 12 immovable properties, located in Nagpur, Pune, Ratnagiri and Goa, worth Rs 12.80 crore in the money laundering investigation against bank loan fraud by the Varron Group of Industries.

The ED initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of three FIRs registered by the CBI against the Varron Group and its promoter, late S.P. Sawaikar, in a loan fraud case amounting to more than Rs 3,000 crore.

The ED investigation revealed that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by S.P. Sawaikar with bank officials to fraudulently discount 246 forged bills backed by the letter of credit (LC) of Rs 300 crore opened by Canara Bank, Deccan Gymkhana Branch, Pune, on behalf of Varron Aluminium Pvt Ltd (VAPL).

"However, there was no real movement of the goods and the amounts were diverted to pay off older loans and the LCs were devolved later causing loss to the Bank of India. The earlier loan accounts were not serviced regularly and the loan proceeds were diverted for other than the stated purposes and amounts were utilised to create landed assets in the name of the promoters and also to create benami assets," said the ED.

Earlier, the ED had attached proceeds of crime worth Rs 166.47 crore in the same matter. On February 6, the ED had also filed a prosecution complaint before a PMLA court in Mumbai.