ED attaches Rs 112.90 crore assets of LEEL electricals promoters in Rs 376 crore bank fraud case

Jaipur, July 7 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth around Rs 112.90 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with an alleged Rs 376 crore bank fraud involving M/s LEEL Electricals Limited (formerly Lloyd Electric and Engineering Limited), its main promoter Bharat Raj Punj, and others.

According to the ED’s Jaipur Zonal Office, the attached properties include land, industrial plots, residential properties, bank balances, fixed deposits, and mutual fund investments spread across Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and a residential property in Texas’s Houston in the US.

Investigators said that these assets were beneficially owned and controlled by the promoter’s family and were allegedly held through related and shell entities to conceal the proceeds of crime.

The money laundering investigation stems from an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in New Delhi under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI’s FIR and subsequent charge sheet alleged that the company’s promoters and senior officials conspired to cheat a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) by submitting manipulated financial statements, causing a wrongful loss of around Rs 376 crore to the SBI and IDBI Bank.

The ED investigation found that the accused allegedly inflated the value of assets, inventories, and receivables in the company’s books to project a stronger financial position and continue availing bank credit facilities.

The central probe agency also alleged that the diverted funds were routed through a network of promoter-controlled companies in India and transferred to overseas subsidiaries under the guise of investments and loans, making recovery difficult.

According to the probe agency, the siphoned funds were ultimately invested in immovable properties held in the names of related companies and family members.

Several of these properties were later sold, with the proceeds of crime allegedly used for the personal and operational expenses of the promoter family, including those of Renu Punj, mother of Bharat Raj Punj.

The ED also attached a residential property in Texas jointly owned by Bharat Raj Punj and his wife Pooja Punj, saying that it represented proceeds of crime held outside India.

The agency said that further investigation in the case is underway.

–IANS

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