The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized Rs 280 crore from Seva Vikas Bank for allegedly laundering money. Under the terms of the PMLA, 2002, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has temporarily attached 47 immovable properties worth Rs 121.81 Crore and mobile assets of Rs 54.25 Lacs belonging to Amar Mulchandani, Vivek Aranha, Sagar Suryawanshi, Khemchand Bhojwani and their family members/entities.
The ED launched a PMLA probe based on a preliminary FIR filed at Vimantal PS in Pune against Vinay Aranha of Rosary Education Group and others for loan fraud. Following that, the Joint Registrar (Audit) audited the whole Seva Vikas Coop Bank and discovered severe fraud and embezzlement of Rs 429.6 Crore across 124 NPA Loan accounts. Additional FIRs were filed against the loan recipients and the bank’s management, including its ex-Chairman Amar Mulchandani, based on the audit findings. The RBI has revoked the bank’s licence.
The ED is probing the whole Bank scandal, in which thousands of innocent depositors’ tiny amounts were syphoned off by illicit loans sanctioned by the bank’s management.
According to the ED investigation, Amar Mulchandani treated public deposits in the bank as his personal fiefdom and violated all prudent Banking norms by illegally sanctioning loans to his favoured borrowers in an arbitrary manner, without checking their creditworthiness or providing adequate collateral securities, and after accepting bribes at the rate of 20% of the sanctioned loan amounts. He appointed his family members as Directors in the bank with the explicit intention of obtaining a veto-proof majority on the Board of Directors to issue loans according to his whims and fancies.
Amar Mulchandani also approved several benami fake loans in order to syphon off money. Vinay Aranha, Sagar Suryawanshi, and Khemchand Bhojwani, among others, were discovered to be working hand in glove with Amar Mulchandani. They functioned as mutual guarantors on their loan accounts, all of which became delinquent. Loans were made to them unlawfully and with the evident intention of defaulting on the debt from the start. Older debts were repaid with new ones. Amar Mulchandani and others have made many benami investments, according to the ED.
Attached properties include Rs 121.81 Crore in immovable properties in Pune (Maharashtra) belonging to Amar Mulchandani, Vivek Aranha, Sagar Suryawanshi, Khemchand Bhojwani and their family members/entities, and Rs 54.25 Lacs in movable properties belonging to M/s Devi Concrete Products. To avoid their alienation, the same has been connected. More research is being conducted.
