Bank loan fraud: ED raids businessman who donated Rs 2.5 cr to UK party

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has raided a Delhi-based rice company and its promoter, who donated about Rs 2.5 crore to a political party in the UK, as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of over Rs 1,200 crore.

Twenty-one locations in Delhi and Gurugram of Amira Pure Foods Private Limited and its promoter Karan A Chanana were raided by the federal probe agency on May 2.

The money laundering case stems from a 2020 CBI FIR that was filed against the accused on allegations of "causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 1,201.85 crore to the consortium of banks led by Canara Bank".

"The accused entities in connivance with each other as well as other related/un-related entities have illegally diverted loan funds sanctioned by the consortium of banks by way of transferring loan funds into the accounts of various shell entities under the guise of genuine business transactions.  "It was also known that Karan A Chanana had donated 250,000 GBP to a political party of the United Kingdom since 2019 through one of the subsidiary company of the accused entity -- Amira Pure Foods Pvt. Ltd., while the accused entity had itself defaulted on repayment of loans and was declared as NPA (non performing asset) in 2016-17 by consortium member banks," the ED alleged.

The agency said cash of Rs 1.01 crore and "incriminating" evidences that show the modus operandi of the accused entity for "diverting" the loan funds through shell (bogus) companies, accommodation entries (hawala) and fudging manipulation of stocks, etc., were seized.