ED searches SBBEL premises in Rs 605 Cr money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at various premises of Amar Chand Gupta, Ram Laal Gupta, Raj Kumar Gupta and other family members in connection with its probe into a money laundering case for siphoning off loan amount of Rs 605 crore by Shree Bankey Bihari Exports Limited (SBBEL).
An ED official said the agency sleuths carried out searches at several locations on Tuesday.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering on the basis of the CBI FIR against SBBEL, its Directors Amar Chand Gupta and others and other unknown public servants or persons for fraud of Rs 605 crore.

The official said that during the investigation, it was gathered that SBBEL had diverted loan funds through its sister units and also by employing the modus operandi of showing bogus and fictitious sale or purchase transactions.

He said that the primary security had also been disposed by it without depositing the sale proceeds in the loan account.

The official claimed that it was also gathered that the books of accounts had been secreted in various premises wherein business was being carried out by these persons namely Amar Chand Gupta, Ram Laal Gupta and Raj Kumar Gupta in the name of other family members.

"In order to uncover the trail of proceeds of crime and to recover documentary and electronic evidence, searches at residential and business premises of the directors and the entities being run by them along with residence of one key employee were conducted," the official said.


He said that during searches, various incriminating documents, laptops, mobile phones and digital storage devices indicating number of entities controlled by them to facilitate money laundering have been found.

The official said that besides the Rs 605 crore loan siphoning case, the financial probe agency is also probing money laundering on the basis of two other FIRs registered by the CBI against two other group companies for bank fraud of Rs 100 crore each.

"Thus, the total amount of proceeds of crime involved in these cases is Rs 805 crore by these persons," the official added. - IANS