ED seizes Gurugram firm’s Rs 5k cr assets in Rs 27k cr bank fraud | India News
NEW DELHI: In a money laundering probe initiated at the direction of the Supreme Court, the ED on Saturday attached assets worth Rs 5,115 crore of Gurugram-based Amtek Auto Ltd. The company is accused of siphoning off Rs 27,000 crore from govt banks.
The other group companies of the Amtek accused in the case of laundering bank funds are ARG Ltd, ACIL Ltd, Metalyst Forging Ltd and Castex Technologies Ltd, including promoter Arvind Dham.
Earlier, the CBI had also registered an FIR in the case based on complaints from the IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra. They had alleged that Dham and his group entities had diverted bank loans to shell companies. The Supreme Court had in Feb, while hearing a PIL against Amtek Auto, directed ED to investigate the case involving bank fraud by the company to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore.
“The apex court had expressed concerns regarding the diversion of public money, emphasising the necessity of a comprehensive investigation by the ED, even if the banks concerned had settled the accounts,” the agency said in a statement.
Dham was arrested on July 9 after ED probe revealed money trail where more than 500 shell companies were used to launder the bank funds of over Rs 5,000 crore after the accused had taken all his group entities to insolvency by manipulating financial statements and creating bogus assets. During the resolution of these companies, the banks had to take more than 80% haircut.
Using his over 500 shell companies, Dham had invested in high value real estate and luxury properties, whose shareholdings were concealed in a “highly complex shareholding structure”, the ED said. These shell companies were holding assets, whose beneficial ownership has been revealed to be with Arvind Dham, the main promoter and beneficial owner of Amtek group, the agency said.
The attached assets include 85 properties valued at Rs 2,675 crore, spread across 13 different states, including large commercial properties and farm houses in prime location in Delhi, 200 hectares of land in Maharashtra, hundreds of acres of land in Haryana and Punjab including Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Rewari and Panchkula, industrial lands, residential plotted colonies, flats, etc.
“In addition, the attachment also includes shares worth Rs 2,353.46 crore in both listed and unlisted companies. Some of these companies include Alliance Integrated Metaliks Ltd, Newtime Infrastructure Ltd, etc,” ED said.
All these assets are identified as direct proceeds of crime and are held through several companies beneficially owned by Arvind Dham.
The other group companies of the Amtek accused in the case of laundering bank funds are ARG Ltd, ACIL Ltd, Metalyst Forging Ltd and Castex Technologies Ltd, including promoter Arvind Dham.
Earlier, the CBI had also registered an FIR in the case based on complaints from the IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra. They had alleged that Dham and his group entities had diverted bank loans to shell companies. The Supreme Court had in Feb, while hearing a PIL against Amtek Auto, directed ED to investigate the case involving bank fraud by the company to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore.
“The apex court had expressed concerns regarding the diversion of public money, emphasising the necessity of a comprehensive investigation by the ED, even if the banks concerned had settled the accounts,” the agency said in a statement.
Dham was arrested on July 9 after ED probe revealed money trail where more than 500 shell companies were used to launder the bank funds of over Rs 5,000 crore after the accused had taken all his group entities to insolvency by manipulating financial statements and creating bogus assets. During the resolution of these companies, the banks had to take more than 80% haircut.
Using his over 500 shell companies, Dham had invested in high value real estate and luxury properties, whose shareholdings were concealed in a “highly complex shareholding structure”, the ED said. These shell companies were holding assets, whose beneficial ownership has been revealed to be with Arvind Dham, the main promoter and beneficial owner of Amtek group, the agency said.
The attached assets include 85 properties valued at Rs 2,675 crore, spread across 13 different states, including large commercial properties and farm houses in prime location in Delhi, 200 hectares of land in Maharashtra, hundreds of acres of land in Haryana and Punjab including Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Rewari and Panchkula, industrial lands, residential plotted colonies, flats, etc.
“In addition, the attachment also includes shares worth Rs 2,353.46 crore in both listed and unlisted companies. Some of these companies include Alliance Integrated Metaliks Ltd, Newtime Infrastructure Ltd, etc,” ED said.
All these assets are identified as direct proceeds of crime and are held through several companies beneficially owned by Arvind Dham.
