The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 68.77 crore owned by the Directors and shareholders of Usher Agro Ltd, Vinod Chaturvedi, Manoj Pathak, their family members and entities/companies owned and controlled by them.
The attachment includes immovable properties worth Rs 53.46 crore situated at Mumbai and Mathura (UP) and movable properties like shares held with CDSL/NSDL worth Rs 15.18 crore and Bank balance of Rs 13.46 lakhs, the agency said in a statement.
Earlier, the ED had recorded a money laundering case against Usher Agro Ltd, promoters Vinod Chaturvedi and Manoj Pathak besides others on August 29, 2019 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Proceeds of Crime in this case is Rs 915.65 crore. During the course of the investigation, Vinod Chaturvedi was arrested on September 17 this year and presently he is in judicial custody. In this case, the Banks and other Financial Institutions had sanctioned various working capital and other business loans to Usher Agro Ltd. Vinod Kumar Chaturvedi, Promoter and Managing Director, Manoj Pathak, Promoter and whole time Director of accused firm Usher Agro Ltd.
The accused persons allegedly diverted and siphoned the said working capital/business loans from Usher Agro Ltd to their other owned entities/companies or through multiple shell companies exclusively created for the purpose of siphoning of funds for their own personal benefit, it said.
They also withdrew huge cash from the bank accounts of UAL and other shell companies with a motive to divert and siphon the funds from UAL. Further investigation is under progress, it added.