ED attaches land parcels worth

MUMBAI: As part of its money laundering investigation into an alleged ₹1,992 crore bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday provisionally attached immovable assets worth ₹814 crore across Raigad district and a few other states.
The agency’s probe is based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case against JVL Agro Industries Limited and others.
The agency provisionally attached land plots measuring 521 acres located in Raigad district of Maharashtra, Varanasi, (Uttar Pradesh), Rohtas (Bihar), Palam (New Delhi) registered in the name of M/s JVL Infra Heights Limited, M/s JVL Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd, M/s JVL Cement Limited, M/s Premium Pressure Vessels Pvt. Ltd, and their promoters, SN Jhunjhunwala and A Jhunjhunwala. The CBI case was registered against JVL Agro Industries Limited and others.
ED’s investigation revealed that JVL, which has units in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and West Bengal, was involved in the manufacturing and trading of different edible oils. The company used to import crude oil/raw material from abroad including countries like Singapore and Malaysia through its foreign subsidiary, JVL Overseas Pte. Ltd., Singapore, ED sources said. JVL Agro Industries Ltd allegedly availed credit facilities from the banks by submitting manipulated and inflated financial statements and thereafter diverted its funds through various group entities.
It was alleged that promoter SN Jhunjhunwala had acquired and opened various paper entities as group companies of JVL Agro, making dummy directors who turned out to be daily wagers and staffers, for the purpose of diverting the funds of JVL Agro Industries Limited through such paper entities, ED sources said.
He had also allegedly registered two trusts, Mahalaxmi Investment Trust and Ratnapriya Investment Trust, and transferred almost all shares of such paper entities to these trusts that are under his control. “Such acts of SN Jhunjhunwala and his associates resulted in causing huge loss to a consortium of banks led by the Bank of Baroda worth around ₹1,992 crore,” an ED source said.
The agency had earlier conducted searches under its money laundering probe in the case at 12 premises of the JVL Group of Companies and others on June 21, which resulted in the recovery of documents/records related to the diversion of funds, the sources said.