Kolkata, Dec 2 (NationPress) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) from its Kolkata Zonal Office has executed a property attachment valued at Rs 199.67 crore across West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. This action is part of an ongoing investigation into a money laundering scheme involving Prakash Vanijya Private Limited and its promoter-director Manoj Kumar Jain, who allegedly defrauded the Central Bank of India by Rs 234.57 crore, as reported by the agency on Tuesday.

According to the ED, the investigation unveiled that funds were illicitly redirected following the acquisition of credit facilities based on exaggerated financial statements and falsified documents, resulting in a total loss of Rs 234.57 crore to the Central Bank of India. The ED initiated their inquiry under the provisions of the PMLA, which led to the attachment of several properties in both West Bengal and Chhattisgarh through four provisional attachment orders, all of which were later upheld by the Hon'ble Adjudicating Authority.

Additionally, in a separate statement released on Tuesday, the ED announced that it has issued provisional attachment orders aimed at seizing movable and immovable assets worth about Rs 3.98 crore, which includes a residential flat. This is part of the agency’s ongoing probe into a trade-based money laundering (TBML) syndicate linked with Yecnail Enterprises Private Ltd and various related entities.

The investigation has exposed a complex TBML scheme orchestrated by a syndicate that established and managed a network of shell importing companies to fraudulently transfer funds outside India. These fictitious firms misrepresented low-value stones as high-value precious and semi-precious stones, utilizing inflated import documentation and counterfeit valuation reports created in collusion with government-approved valuers and customs house agents (CHAs). The funds were then layered through multiple shell entities within India before being sent abroad under the pretense of legitimate import payments, allowing the syndicate to illicitly shift hundreds of crores out of the country.

Over the past few months, the agency has ramped up its activities in West Bengal, conducting raids and searches across various regions of the state.

Notable financial irregularities that have attracted the ED's renewed focus include the cash-for-municipal jobs scandal, the coal smuggling case, and the sand smuggling incident, among others.