Bank 'fraud': ED attaches over Rs 440 crore assets of ex-promoters of Kwality
New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate Thursday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 440 crore in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab as part of an alleged bank loan fraud linked money laundering case against former promoters of dairy major Kwality Ltd.
An order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the provisional attachment of a 12,000 square yards farmhouse located at DLF Chhatarpur, residential properties at Vasant Vihar and Punjabi Bagh in Delhi and some residential plots at Karnal (Haryana) and Mohali (Punjab), the federal agency said.
The total value of these properties is Rs 442.85 crore.
These properties were "owned" by former promoters Siddhant Gupta and Sanjay Dhingra of Kwality Limited through "dummy" companies. The driver and security guard of the said promoters were the directors in such companies, the ED said.
The agency had raided 15 locations in Delhi-NCR in November 2024 as part of the action against former promoters and directors of the company -- Sanjay Dhingra and Siddhant Gupta -- apart from some "shell" (paper) companies related to them.
Kwality has been liquidated and is now with new owners.
The ED case stems from a September, 2020 CBI FIR filed against the said promoters and Kwality, which was engaged in processing and trading of milk, ice cream and other dairy products, for alleged loan fraud of Rs 1,400 crore against a consortium of banks.
The then promoters and directors, the agency said in a statement, "fudged" the books of accounts to show higher sales and debtors.
"Huge amounts of trading (sales/ purchase) were made without actual physical deliveries or receipt of the goods at factory premises. It was also noticed that sham companies/firms operated through implanted/dummy owners were used to divert the bank funds," the ED alleged.
The funds "diverted" through the said modus operandi were circulated and layered so as to conceal their origin and routed to different accounts as per the instructions of the promoters for purposes not intended by the banks, it said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
