The Enforcement Directorate has attached a residential building worth ₹190.62 crore in an ongoing probe against Sanjay Singal, the former chairman-cum-managing director of Bhushan Power & Steel Limited (BPSL), and others.
The property is located at Ceejay House in Mumbai’s Worli. The agency has so far attached assets worth ₹4,420.16 crore in the case alleging bank fraud.
The ED investigation is based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation on April 5, 2019, against BPSL and others.
According to the agency, the accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy with unknown bank officials to cheat the financial institutions.
The funds taken from the banks in the form of various credit facilities were allegedly diverted through companies and shell entities.
The company deliberately defaulted on repayment of bank loans. It also claimed inadmissible credit with respect to the Central Value Added Tax, as alleged.
The accused did not use the loans for the stated purposes, submitted forged documents and falsified the accounts to cheat the banks, causing huge losses to them.
In the CBI FIR, it was also alleged that BPSL had taken credit facilities from 33 different banks/financial institutions and the outstanding defaulted amount as on January 30, 2018, stood at ₹47,204 crore. Such loan accounts remained irregular continuously and were finally declared non-performing assets (NPA).
The lead lender, Punjab National Bank, classified the account of BPSL as an NPA on December 31, 2015, followed by the other banks/financial institutions.
The ED probe revealed that the money used to purchase the Worli property by Assurity Real Estate LLP had allegedly been diverted from BPSL and routed through shell companies, projecting the same as unsecured loans.
The agency found that the “so-called” unsecured loans were given without any documentation and repayment obligations.
Earlier, the ED had filed a charge sheet against 25 accused in the case.
