INDIA. Mumbai: Bank fraud in Chennai! In accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday attached 78 immovable properties and 16 movable properties worth approximately Rs. 124 crores that were in the possession of various individuals and organisations connected to the Chennai-based Surana Group of Companies.
The attachment was in connection with Rs 3986 crore Principal outstanding amount due from the company to the three Public Sector Banks. In August 2022, the ED had attached properties valued at Rs. 124.95 crore of the company. They included 75 immovable properties and 67 windmills. With fresh attachment, the total attachment in the case stands at Rs. 248.98 crore, an official statement read.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of three FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Banking Securities and Fraud Cell, Bengaluru, against M/s Surana Industries Limited, M/s Surana Power Limited and M/s Surana Corporation Limited.
ED Investigations revealed that these three companies defrauded the banks by floating a web of shell companies wherein they appointed their employees/ relatives as Directors/ Proprietors/ Partners and indulged in paper transactions with them without actual movement of goods.
By projecting the bank money as unsecured loans from their partner shell firms, the banks’ credit capital was round-tripped/layered to the personal accounts of the company’s promoters. The same money was then invested in the principal Group Companies as part of the Promoter’s commitment to increase the drawing power limitations.
Besides, some of the diverted funds were used to purchase movable/immovable properties in the names of various benami persons/ companies. These activities by the Surana Group’s Promoters/officials caused the accounts to become irregular, which eventually led to the accounts being Non-Performing Assets.
Based on the investigations, Dinesh Chand Surana, Managing Director of M/s Surana Industries Limited and M/s Surana Power Ltd, Vijay Raj Surana, Managing Director of M/s Surana Corporation Limited and two dummy directors of shell companies viz. P. Anand and I Prabhakaran, were arrested on July 12, 2022, and were sent to Judicial Custody and the prosecution complaints were filed before the Special PMLA Court, the statement added.
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