India News | Bank Loan Fraud: ED Attaches Rs 33 Cr Assets of Andhra Pisciculture Firm, Directors

New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 33 crore of the promoters of an Andhra Pradesh-based company in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud, the agency said on Wednesday.

As many as 27 immovable properties in the name of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath and their family members have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the central probe agency said in a statement.

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The assets have a market value of Rs 33.39 crore while their book value is Rs 11.05 crore, it said.

These individuals had promoted Venus Aqua Foods Limited that dealt in the business of pisciculture, it said.

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The ED filed a PMLA case against the accused based on a CBI FIR alleging that the company and its directors cheated the Union Bank of India's (erstwhile Andhra Bank) Gudivada branch (Krishna district) to the tune of Rs 36.97 crore.

"The company had availed Rs 19.44 crore fish tank loans from Andhra Bank by furnishing forged and fabricated documents including fake lease documents for 470 acres of fish farms," the ED alleged.

"The loan funds were diverted and not repaid causing a loss of Rs 36.97 crore," the agency claimed.

The probe found that the accused also availed fish tank loans in the name of 54 individuals that included them, their family members, friends, relatives, associates and their family members to the tune of Rs 22.64 crore, it said.

"These loans were taken on the pretext of pisciculture but instead the money was siphoned off and diverted to the main accused (Ramakrishna) who used this money to introduce share capital in the aqua company that helped the company to borrow more," the ED said.

"Part of the loan funds were also used to acquire immovable properties in the names of Ramakrishna, other promoters of the aqua firm, their family members and associates to disguise their origin," it said.

"An amount of Rs 1.72 crore was diverted for the production of a Telugu movie 'Aakasame Haddu' and all the loans became NPA," the agency claimed. PTI NES

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)