ED attaches Rs 678 crore property of Avanta Group, bank fraud case
ED Action: A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach properties located in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand. These properties belong to various companies of Avanta Group. Avanta Group is owned and controlled by businessman Gautam Thapar.
Muskan
Follow Us
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached land properties worth more than Rs 678 crore of Avanta Group under the anti-money laundering law as part of an investigation into alleged bank loan fraud. The Directorate gave this information on Thursday.
A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach properties located in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand. These properties belong to various companies of Avanta Group. Avanta Group is owned and controlled by businessman Gautam Thapar.
In a statement, the ED said, "On August 19, 2019, CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited disclosed information to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, which had a potential impact on the financial position of the company."
The ED said in a statement, "The disclosure made by CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited revealed that the assets and liabilities of the company have been significantly understated."
According to the agency, this disclosure was noticed by the lender banks and based on a complaint by the State Bank of India (SBI), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in June 2021 registered a case against CG Power and Industrial Solution Limited, Gautam Thapar, KN Neelkant, Madhav Acharya, B Hariharan, Omkar Goswami and unknown public servants and other persons for alleged "bank fraud" of Rs 2,435 crore. A case was registered against Avantha Group for money laundering.
The ED's money laundering case is related to the same CBI FIR. Earlier, the ED had seized assets worth more than Rs 14 crore and filed a chargesheet under PMLA. Apart from this, a "key managerial employee" of the company, Madhav Acharya, was also arrested.
The ED said that it was later found that Rs 1,307.06 crore was transferred to Avantha Group companies by taking loans. It claimed that most of this money was paid "without proper permission" of the board.
