Delhi court notices against Videocon Group founder Dhoot, 12 others in bank fraud case: ED
New Delhi (PTI): The ED on Monday said a Delhi court has issued notices to Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and a dozen other entities after taking cognisance of its chargesheet filed in connection with an alleged Rs 61,700-crore bank loan fraud linked to financing the company's oil and gas assets in Mozambique.
The prosecution complaint (chargesheet) was filed on December 18, 2024 and the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court located at Rouse Avenue took cognisance on February 10, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.
The court has taken cognizance of the offence of money laundering and has issued notices against the 13 accused, it said.
The Videocon Group could not be contacted immediately for comments.
The accounts of Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) and its group companies turned NPA (non-performing assets) in 2018 and the banks had filed a total claim of Rs 61,773.02 crore including the NPA of Rs 23,647.12 crore in respect of SBLC (stand by letter of credit) facility, said the ED.
The agency has quantified the "proceeds of crime" in this case at Rs 1,136.49 crore.
The money laundering case stems from a June 2020 FIR of the CBI.
According to the ED, probe found foreign currency loan facilities availed by the Videocon Group-- the SBLC facility sanctioned by the SBI-led consortium, the Jupiter facility and the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) facility-- were systematically "diverted" from their sanctioned purposes, which were stated to be development and refinancing of overseas oil and gas assets (in the African country Mozambique).
"The diversion of funds was carried out under the overall control and direction of the promoters of the Videocon Group, with the active involvement of overseas group entities and intermediaries," the agency alleged.
The loan proceeds were allegedly routed through Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Ltd (VHHL) and its overseas oil and gas subsidiaries after which the funds were "layered" through a complex web of overseas Videocon Group companies engaged in activities unrelated to oil and gas operations, it said.
These entities included Jupitor Corporation, Venus Corporation, Eagle Corporation, Paramount Global, Quadrant Corporation, Sky Billion Trading and TGDC Guangdong Display Co. Ltd.
These funds were routed back to India and utilised for purposes "wholly unconnected" with the sanctioned objectives, including meeting expenses of non-oil businesses, making investments, and creation of personal and corporate assets, the ED claimed.
The agency found that a "substantial" portion of the diverted funds was "layered" back into India through the books and bank accounts of VIL and its Indian group companies.
"Investigation found that out of the total facility of USD 4.54 billion, USD 2.02 billion has been diverted by the promoters of Videocon Group for non-intended purposes," the agency claimed.
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Over 17,000 people went missing in Delhi in 2024: NCRB
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.
The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.
According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.
At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.
In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.
Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.
A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.
The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.
The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.
After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.
The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.
The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.
By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.
