The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at multiple premises in Mumbai, Pune and Surat in connection with a money laundering probe against Gujarat-based ABG Shipyard Ltd in an alleged Rs 22,842 crore bank loan fraud case.
The ED searched as many as 26 premises in these cities under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said.
The searches were conducted to gather documents relating to financial transactions and related information of the company and its former promoters and linked persons, they further said.
The ED had filed a money laundering case in February after taking cognizance of a CBI FIR against the former promoters of the ship building company apart from a forensic audit report prepared on the operations of the group. The CBI had booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its then chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks to the tune of over Rs 22,842 crore.
The CBI had also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The ED, officials said, is looking into the charges of alleged…
