Bank loan fraud: ED arrests Kolkata-based bizman for 'cheating' SBI for Rs 95 cr
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has arrested a Kolkata-based businessman under the anti-money laundering law for allegedly defrauding State Bank of India of Rs 95 crore.
Kaushik Kumar Nath was arrested on March 30 and a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata sent him to ED custody till April 10, the agency said in a statement.
Nath, it said, availed credit facilities from State Bank of India (SBI) by submitting "forged and fabricated" documents.
"The funds received in the guise of credit facilities were withdrawn in cash and used for purposes other than (those) for which they were sanctioned," it said.
The ED said SBI, the country's largest lender, was cheated to the tune of about Rs 95 crore.
The money laundering case against Nath stems from at least four FIRs and charge sheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) apart from a case filed against him by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.
"Nath was frequently changing his identity and defrauding banks. Recently, he had shifted his base to Mumbai and engaged in such type of criminal activities there," the ED said.
Immovable assets worth Rs 3.68 crore have also been attached in this case, the agency said.
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Trump says he called off dispatching envoys to Iran talks
Dubai (PTI): US President Donald Trump said he told his top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to travel to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, stating on Fox News that "they can call us any time they want”.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports. Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade,” to allow a new round of negotiations, according to the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Araghchi is expected back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday.
Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries this month. The initial 10-day ceasefire had been due to expire Monday.
The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.
The move announced Friday is part of the administration's threat to impose secondary sanctions on entities doing business with Iran in an effort to cut off Iran's oil exports, which are a key source of its revenue.
Airlines worldwide have begun cancelling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up prices. Experts have offered information to travelers about what to do if a flight is cancelled.
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports, according to Iranian media.
Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade”, to allow a new round of negotiations, the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies reported.
The Pakistani premier described the call as a “warm and constructive discussion”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded a one-day trip to Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Saturday after meeting with Pakistani military and government officials.
The trip did not produce a breakthrough in efforts to relaunch negotiations after US President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by his envoys to Islamabad.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will return to Pakistan after his current visit to Oman on his way to visiting Russia.
The report said he was expected to be back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday and would join other members of his delegation who had gone to Tehran for consultations and “instructions on the topics related to the end of the war.”
