On February 22, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) issued a Provisional Attachment Order for the attachment of M/s Nipko Engineering Services Pvt Ltd.’s moveable properties totalling Rs. 62.70 Crore in a bank fraud case.
On the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI, ACB Pune, where a complaint was filed against the aforementioned Company, Mr Narendra Achyut Rao Korde, Director, unidentified Andhra Bank officials, and other persons for a bank fraud of approximately Rs. 72.99 Crore, the ED launched a money laundering investigation in 2020.
The accused obtained false or fake purchase orders from various businesses before preparing forged supporting documents, such as invoices, delivery challans, goods receipt notes, etc., to represent actual transactions of goods between the businesses. This was the modus operandi used to launder the funds. These aforementioned documents were then sent to Andhra Bank along with the bill discounting application. After then, additional partners, such as the directors, owners, and authorised signatories of bogus buyer firms, utilised to accept the aforementioned bills from their respective banks without any actual goods transactions taking place. The aforementioned bogus bills were discounted, and the funds were deposited to Mr Narendra Korde’s company account.
In order to conceal the source of the proceeds of crime, the aforementioned funds were further laundered under the guise of payments to third parties or fictitious businesses, cash withdrawals, layering, and integration into the bank accounts of numerous other companies. They were then used to purchase immovable properties worth Rs. 62.70 crores that have been provisionally attached.
