The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Hittesh Patel and Suresh N. Patel, Directors of Shinago Plantations Pvt. Ltd., under the prevention of money laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) for laundering money to the tune of ₹325 crore by using a network of nearly 20 group entities located across Tamil Nadu.
According to details provided by ED, after one day of judicial custody, the special court (PMLA) remanded both of them for enforcement custody for 10 days.
‘Wilful diversion’
Investigations under PMLA revealed that the accused, in collusion with the valuers, availed loans from the erstwhile Corporation Bank (Currently, Union Bank of India) on the basis of inflated value of properties as collateral and indulged in wilful diversion of funds through various group accounts.
Further investigations revealed that the funds so availed by various individuals/groups concerns in the form of letter of credit and cash credit limits, agriculture term loans, were transferred within the group entities through circular rotation of money to avail more funds from the bank without any actual business.
