New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it has provisionally attached 27 immovable properties, located in and around Hyderabad and Vijayawada, of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath, their family members and associates worth Rs 11.05 crore, having current market value of Rs 33.39 crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a pisciculture bank loan fraud case.
ED initiated its probe based on FIR registered by the Bangaluru branch of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Managing Director of Venus Aqua Foods Limited Nimmagadda Ramakrishna and other Directors for defrauding Union Bank of India (erstwhile Andhra Bank), Gudivada branch to the tune of Rs 36.97 Crore.
Investigation conducted under PMLA revealed that Venus Aqua Foods Limited had availed Rs 19.44 Crore 'Fish Tank Loans' from Union Bank of India (erstwhile Andhra Bank), Gudivad by furnishing forged and fabricated documents including fake lease documents for 470 acres of fish farms, the probe agency officials said.
The promoters of the said firm diverted the fund and did not repay the loan amount, causing a loss of Rs 36.97 crore to the Bank, the officials added.
Investigation further revealed that the accused also availed ‘Fish Tank Loans’ in the name of 54 individuals including themselves, their family members, their friends, relatives, associates and their family members to the tune of Rs 22.64 Crore.
“These loans were taken under the pretext of pisciculture but instead the money was siphoned off and diverted to the main accused account and the parts of the loan funds were also used to acquire immovable properties in the names of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, NimmagaddaVenugopal, VVNK Viswanath, their family members and associates to disguise their origin and they projected it as untainted properties”, the central agency said in a statement.
An amount of Rs 1.72 Crore was diverted in the production of a Telugu movie “Aakasame Haddu”, it added.
All the loans have become NPA and after conducting fund trail investigation and on identification of these assets have been provisionally attached under PMLA, the ED said, adding that further Investigation is under progress
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