ED attaches property worth Rs 2,747 cr of ABG Shipyard in bank fraud case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached assets worth Rs 2,747.69 crore of the ABG Shipyard Limited in bank fraud case.
The ED said that the attached assets include Shipyards in Gujarat’s Surat and Dahej; agricultural lands and plots, various commercial and residential premises in Gujarat and Maharashtra; and bank accounts owned by ABG Shipyard Ltd, its group companies and other related entities.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Investigation by ED revealed that ABG Shipyard Ltd and its Chairman and Managing Director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal availed various credit facilities from consortium of Banks led by ICICI Bank, Mumbai on the pretext of meeting its capital requirements and other business expenses, but ABG Shipyard Ltd misappropriated the credit facilities availed from the consortium and diverted the funds for the purposes other than its actual cause in the garb of various loans, advances, investments to various related entities incorporated in India and abroad.
It caused monetary loss to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore to the consortium.
The ED has traced movable and immovable assets totaling Rs 2747.69 crore belonging to ABG Shipyard Ltd, its group companies, Bermaco Energy Systems Ltd., Dhananjay Datar, Savita Dhananjay Datar, Krishna Gopal Toshniwal, Viren Ahuja and attached them under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Further investigation in the matter is on.
