ED raids in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Nagpur in over Rs 20,000 crore Amtek Group fraud case

Searches are being conducted at about 35 business and residential premises in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai and Nagpur since morning.

The Enforcement Directorate on June 20 conducted raids at 35 different locations across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Nagpur related to Amtek Group and its directors, who are accused for perpetrating an alleged bank loan fraud of over Rs 20,000 crore.

According to top officials, the raids are being carried out on the Amtek Group and its directors, including Arvind Dham, Gautam Malhotra and others.

Searches are being conducted at about 35 business and residential premises in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai and Nagpur since morning.

The investigation was triggered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR a group entity of Amtek-ACIL Limited- on allegations of a bank fraud of more than Rs 20,000 crore in a number of listed firms, which were finally taken over in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings at nominal price leaving the consortium of banks with nominal recovery, they said.

The Supreme Court, in March 2024, too had asked the law enforcement agency to probe the case.

The fraud, according to ED, caused a loss of about Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 crore to the exchequer, the sources said.

The ED believes that loan funds were "siphoned off" to invest in real estate, foreign investment and investment in new ventures.

Bogus sales, capital assets, debtors and profit were shown in group concerns to get more loans so that it doesn't get non-performing assets (NPA) tag, the sources said.

It is alleged that the shares of listed companies were 'rigged', books of account were window dressed for obtaining higher loans through collusion of auditors/professionals.

Thousands of crores of assets have been allegedly parked in the name of shell companies, a number of foreign assets have been created and money is still parked under the new names through benami directors and shareholders, the ED found.

With inputs from PTI