PMC Bank fraud: Enforcement Directorate provisionally attaches Rs 35.48 crore assets of Shinde’s kin

The probe agency said it has provisionally attached assets of Priti Shroff and Raj Shroff, owners of Jindal Combines Pvt. Ltd and Orlando Trading Pvt. Ltd, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable assets worth Rs 35.48 crore belonging to the daughter and son-in-law of former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, in connection with the Rs 4355-crore fraud at Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank allegedly perpetrated by Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of HDIL.

The probe agency said it has provisionally attached assets of Priti Shroff and Raj Shroff, owners of Jindal Combines Pvt. Ltd and Orlando Trading Pvt. Ltd, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

“The attached assets are in the form of two commercial properties admeasuring approximately 10550 sq. ft area each in Kaledonia building, Andheri (East), Mumbai,” said the ED in a statement.

The ED case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan for allegedly siphoning off a Rs 200-crore loan sanctioned by Yes Bank Ltd to Mack Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd., an associate firm of HDIL. This loan, according to the ED probe, was used for evergreening the accounts of HDIL with Yes Bank.

So far, the ED has attached properties worth Rs 366.3 crore and other assets of 63.78 crore in the PMC case.

The probe agency has found that the Wadhawans in 2014 illegally and fraudulently transferred a commercial property of Mack Star to Jindal Combines at Rs 9.39 crore even as the ready reckoner value of the property stood at Rs 15.64 crore at that time. Similarly, another property was sold to Orlando Trading at Rs 18 crore in 2016 but the trading firm paid only Rs 10 crore to Mack Star till now.

📣 JOIN NOW 📣: The Express Explained Telegram Channel

 

“Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan cheated Mack Star Marketing by illegally selling above said properties without consent of the majority shareholder (DE Shaw Group which holds 83.36% shares) of Mack Star at very low price causing loss to the company,” said the ED.

PMC Bank is under regulatory restrictions after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) found out financial irregularities in its functioning, hiding and classification of loans given to HDIL. The bank has an exposure of over Rs 6,200 crore to HDIL. The RBI has superseded the board of the bank and appointed an administrator.

Source: Read Full Article