Manappuram Finance clarifies: ED action against promoter, not company
2 min read . Updated: 05 May 2023, 02:47 PM IST
PremiumThe Enforcement Directorate earlier said that it has frozen assets worth ₹143 crore of Manappuram Finance's MD and CEO after it conducted raids as part of a money-laundering investigation.
Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance Ltd clarified on May 5 that the action taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against its promoter is not linked to affairs of the listed entity, in a notification to the stock exchanges.
On May 4, the ED said that it has frozen assets worth ₹143 crore of Manappuram Finance's MD and CEO V P Nandakumar after it conducted raids as part of a money-laundering investigation. A total of six premises in Thrissur where the company is headquartered were covered during the ED searches.
The assets that were frozen include shares and some documents were seized, said the ED. The ED claimed that "evidence" regarding money laundering and large-scale cash transactions in the form of public deposits, done by V P Nandakumar through his proprietary firm Manappuram Agro Farms (MAGRO), without RBI approval, have been recovered.
However, V P Nandakumar, said in the notification that the probe was not related to the company but ‘’a private entity called Manappuram Agro Farms'', which is no longer in existence.
Nandakumar said the agency froze Manappuram Finance shares worth about ₹2,000 crore that he held, but assigned them a value of about ₹140 crore, adding he was reviewing legal options in the matter.
The frozen assets include deposits kept in eight bank accounts, investment in the listed shares and shares of Manappuram Finance. Various “incriminating" documents showing money laundering and property documents of 60 immovable properties were also seized during the course of the searches, according to the ED.
Manappuram Finance is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) and offers a string of products like online gold loan, micro-home finance, forex and money transfer, business loan, secured personal loan among others.
On Friday, shares of Manappuram Finance plunged over 13 per cent while the benchmark Sensex was last down 0.6 per cent. At 1:37 pm, shares of Manappuram Finance were trading 13.38 per cent lower at ₹103.30 apiece on the BSE.