Enforcement Directorate today attached assets worth Rs 51 crore of an ex-Managing Director of a firm based here in connection with its money laundering probe in an alleged bank loan fraud case of about Rs 522 crore.
Officials said fixed deposits in the name of Farouk Irani, former MD of M/s First Leasing Company of India Limited (FICIL), and his family members were seized under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Irani was arrested by the agency on June 14.
The ED had registered a criminal case, based on a last year's FIR by CBI, which had booked Irani and his firm for allegedly cheating IDBI Bank to the tune of Rs 274 crore and SBI to the tune of about Rs 248 crore a few years ago.
Both the banks had filed a complaint in this regard with the CBI.
The agency said an RBI audit inspection of the firm found the accounts "were falsified" and consortium of the lending banks had also conducted a forensic audit of the accounts of the company which revealed that the its accounts were "falsified so as to show inflated incomes and profits to the tune of over Rs 1,600 crore." "The estimated proceeds of crime, enjoyed, used, dealt with and diverted for personal and family benefits by Irani, the erstwhile MD of FLCIL, alone works out to about Rs 100 crore," the agency had earlier said in a statement.
FLCIL, it said, is a listed company registered under the Companies Act and is a Non-Banking Financial company registered with the RBI.
An attachment of assets uder PMLA is done to ensure that an accused is not able to derive benefits of their ill-gotten wealth and the affected party can appeal against this order within 180 days of the order before the Adjudicating Authority of the Act.
ED is probing multiple cases of bank frauds across the country at present with the most prominent being the Kingfisher Airlines-IDBI alleged bank loan defraud case involving the owner of the now defunct airline and liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
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