Rs 39-cr properties of city-based firm attached by ED

The Enforcement Directorate has attached properties worth Rs 39 crore, belonging to Future Metals Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru. The provisional attachment order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Naveen Sriram and Sudheer Sriram, promoters of Future Metals, were charge-sheeted by the CBI in a cheating case. The accused had duped Spices Trading Corporation Ltd (STCL), a public sector undertaking. The CBI case was that 134 Letters of Credit (LoCs), facilitated by STCL in favour of Future Metals, was overdue. The cheating was to the tune of Rs 1,208 crore.

The ED and CBI had registered cases in 2009 and meanwhile, both the accused fled the country. In February, the CBI arrested Sudheer as he flew to Bengaluru from the UAE.

Subsequent to the filing of the charge sheet by the CBI, an investigation was taken up by the ED.

"During the investigation, an offence of money laundering has been made out against Naveen Sriram, Sudheer Sriram and others. It has been revealed they have laundered the illegally earned money in the form of investments in immovable properties in their names and in the names of their family members and group companies to project the said proceeds of crime as untainted money," a release from the ED stated.

The attached immovable properties are in the form of land located in various places in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.