J-K insurance 'scam': ED attaches assets of Reliance General insurance, Trinity Reinsurance brokers

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached fixed deposits and a land worth more than Rs 36 crore belonging to two companies -- Reliance General Insurance Pvt. Ltd. and Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Private Limited -- as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged insurance scam in Jammu and Kashmir.

The central agency has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attaching the assets.

The probe relates to "fraudulent" awarding of tender of mediclaim insurance policy for J&K government employees, PSU employees, pensioners to Reliance General Insurance Pvt. Ltd. (RGIPL) by J&K finance department "in collusion" with Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Limited (TRBL), an insurance brokerage firm.

The ED case of money laundering stems from a CBI FIR that was filed after former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik had claimed that he was offered bribes to clear files including for awarding contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees.

Malik, who was questioned by the CBI in this case last year, had claimed that he was offered a Rs 300-crore bribe for clearing two files, including one relating to the alleged insurance scam, during his tenure as the Jammu and Kashmir governor between August 23, 2018, and October 30, 2019.

It was found during investigation that the finance department of J&K "deliberately" awarded the tender for engagement of Intermediary (insurance broker) for designing and floating the tender for and implementation of the said health scheme for government employees and pensioners by "dubious or questionable" selection/ shortlisting process to TRBL without holding the essential eligibility criteria, the ED alleged.

"Moreover, the tender for engagement of IRDAI registered insurance company was awarded through TRBL to the said insurance company (RGIPL) which was already blacklisted by the Chhattisgarh government by modification and deletion of essential eligibility criteria even though the said company had less presence in the (erstwhile) state of J&K and bare minimum experience, as pre requirement of the said tender, during the stipulated period," it said.

This way, the agency claimed, an amount of Rs 63.53 crore was "fraudulently" disbursed to the above companies.

Out of this amount, the medical claims of about Rs 17 crore have been disbursed by RGIPL, it said.

The agency has attached fixed deposits valued at Rs 32.53 crore of RGIPL and a land worth Rs 4.04 crore in the name Globus Trade Links Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the TRBL as part of this probe.

The total value of these attachments is Rs 36.57 crore, the ED said.