Bank fraud case: ED attaches Rs 7.5-cr asset near London's Heathrow Airport

New Delhi: An immovable asset worth Rs 7.5 crore and located near London's Heathrow Airport has been attached under the anti-money laundering law in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday.

The provisional attachment order was issued on Tuesday in the case involving Neo Corp International Ltd, and its directors and promoters, the federal agency said in a statement.

The market value of the attached asset is about Rs 7.5 crore and it is situated near the Heathrow Airport in London, it said.

The ED case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stems from two FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The first case involves a company named Poly Logic International Pvt Ltd, its director Utkarsh Trivedi and others who are accused of cheating the Punjab National Bank of Rs 57 crore.

The second case is against Neo Corp International, its MD Sunil Kumar Trivedi and others who are alleged to have defrauded the State Bank of India (SBI) to the tune of Rs 249.97 crore.

According to the ED, the probe found that "extensive" fund transfers were done among a cartel of companies, designed to create a "complex" web of banking transactions.

The two companies, through their directors, engaged in financial dealings with entities suspected to be "dummy" firms floated in the names of employees and close associates.

These "shell" companies acted as conduits to route, rotate and layer funds between related entities, effectively camouflaging the movement and end use of the proceeds of crime, the agency claimed.

"Investigation revealed that the proceeds of crime were siphoned off to foreign jurisdictions under the guise of investment," it said.