The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has 45 immovable properties valued at Rs 363.51 crore owned by the Hyderabad-based MBS Group and its promoters in their ongoing money laundering investigation into a case allegedly defrauding a public sector company in buying gold bullion the buyer’s name attached credit system.
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The agency seized on 26th 2002.
ED initiated an FIR-based money laundering investigation registered by the Anti-Corruption Division of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Hyderabad, against Sukesh Gupta and his companies for letting MMTC Limited (a public sector company) purchase gold bullion had cheated under the buyer’s credit system.
Sukesh Gupta, in active acquiescence with a few officials at the MMTC Hyderabad, has continuously raised gold without currency cover and without adequate collateral, the ED said in a statement.
“The businessman’s fees were constantly being misreported to MMTC headquarters and, without making up for existing losses, his firms continued to get gold from MMTC for their personal benefit, causing a loss of Rs 504.34 billion, inclusive of public money Interest up to May 31 this year in the amount of 277.52 billion rupees to MMTC “, it said.
The CBI filed an indictment against Sukesh Gupta and others in 2014.
During the ED investigation, it emerged that Sukesh Gupta had been working with the various officials at the MMTC Hyderabad and painted the wrong picture of his accounts and continued to raise gold to continue his business as usual.
“Where MMTC ultimately suffered a massive loss, Sukesh Gupta’s business flourished and made huge profits,” the official statement said.
Based on his business profile, the ED said, Sukesh Gupta took out loans, entered into real estate deals, and grew his business on behalf of various affiliates.
“Throughout the investigation, Sukesh Gupta’s behavior has been evasive and non-cooperative, and he has failed to meet the onus of proof placed on him under the 2002 PMLA.
“In another case under FEMA, in 1999, ED said it ruled and fined the MBS group around Rs 222 billion.
Sukesh Gupta also concluded an OTS (One Time Settlement) with MMTC in 2019.
But according to the latest reports from MMTC, Sukesh Gupta has not deposited funds and the OTS has failed.
The ED has now identified 45 immovable lots owned by it and its affiliates and their directors, and has provisionally seized those lots under PMLA, 2002 to safeguard the proceeds of crime, the agency added.