The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 268.66 crore of Agnite Education Limited (earlier Teledata Informatics Limited) and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in a bank fraud case.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered by CBI’s Bank Securities and Fraud Cell, Bangalore against Agnite Education Limited and its Directors K Balasubramaniam and K Padmanabhan, and another FIR registered by CBI, Economic Offences Branch, Chennai against ]Teledata Marine Solutions Limited, and its two Directors also embroiled in the CBI case.
Investigation by ED revealed that Agnite Education Limited and Teledata Marine Solutions Limited availed various credit facilities from State Bank of India and defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs 479 crore, the ED said in a statement.
“Agnite Education Limited, Teledata Marine Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries fraudulently acquired movable properties in the form of five LPG Carrier Ships, one Oil Tanker and bank balances abroad by making sham investments, related party transactions to inflate balance sheets for availing bank loans and expenses for siphoning and diverting funds for promoters’ benefit,” it said.
Most of such associate companies, according to the agency, have been found to be untraceable on verification. Further, they have parked the funds availed through bank loans in the form of assets in Austria, Thailand and Bangladesh, using this modus operandi.