New Delhi, Nov 18 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has arrested an alleged "middleman" based in West Bengal in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged invoking of wrong bank guarantees by some firms that caused a purported loss of over Rs 173 crore to National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC).

Debabrata Haldar was arrested on Wednesday and produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that sent him to 10-day ED custody.

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"Haldar, one of the main conspirators of the scam, acted as a middleman and main beneficiary of the whole scam.... The accused acquired movable and immovable properties out of the proceeds of crime," the ED alleged.

It said Haldar was non-cooperative and evasive during questioning and did not divulge any relevant information, hence was arrested.

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The federal probe agency had raided at least six places in West Bengal on Tuesday in this case and it later froze cash and jewellery worth Rs 18.4 lakh, Rs 3.95 crore deposits kept in bank accounts of liked "fictitious" MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and two SUVs (Toyota Fortuner and Toyota Corolla Altis).

The ED case is based on a FIR of the West Bengal Police CID where a total loss of Rs 173.50 crore was alleged to have been caused to NSIC.

According to the police FIR, an alleged criminal conspiracy was perpetrated by submitting bank guarantees of either un-connected entities or those purported to be issued by various branches of the erstwhile United Bank of India, Kolkata and this came to light when these were enforced by NSIC.

"The funds of NSIC obtained under its RMA (raw material assistance) scheme were laundered/diverted through accounts of various fictitious supplier firms," the ED said.

The RMA scheme aims to provide credit facilities to various needy MSMEs, it said.

(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)