ED recovers 39.33 kg gold, diamond jewellery valued at 24.7 cr during raid in bank fraud case

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said that it carried out search operation at 13 premises in Jalgaon, Nashik, and Thane as part of a money laundering investigation.

ED said that the raids were carried in case related to loan fraud committed by Rajmal Lakhichand Jewelers Pvt Ltd, R L Gold Pvt Ltd, and Manraj Jewelers Pvt Ltd, and their promoters namely Ishwarlal Shankarlal Jain Lalwani, Manish Ishwarlal Jain Lalwani, Pushpa Devi, and Neetika Manish Jain.

ED said that it has seized a significant amount of incriminating documents including 39.33 kg of gold and diamond jewelry valued at Rs 24.7 crore and a cash amount of Rs 1.11 Crore.

ED said that it initiated PMLA investigations based on three CBI FIRs against the accused companies and their promoters for offenses of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and criminal misconduct.

According to the banks, the accused intentionally defaulted on their loans from the State Bank of India, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 352.49 crore (plus interest) to SBI.

ED said that the promoters of the accused companies colluded and engaged in fictitious transactions and fabricated the Books of Accounts of the accused companies and their related entities, leading to significant discrepancies.

“The books of accounts showed bogus sale purchase transactions with the main holding company, Rajmal Lakhichand Jalgaon partnership firm. A substantial amount of stock in trade was found to be missing. Despite a declared stock of over 1284 kg of jewelry, ED could only trace around 40 kg. Thus, loans taken against this declared stocks were siphoned off through bogus purchases for non-existent jewelry,” ED said.

ED said that the second discrepancy was: “The promoters failed to produce any supporting documents to prove the genuine utilisation of the loans by the three accused companies - Rajmal Lakhichand Jewelers Pvt. Ltd., R L Gold Pvt. Ltd., and Manraj Jewelers Pvt Ltd. In fact, they admitted to purposefully not maintaining any books of accounts, ledgers, stock registers, invoices, or supporting documents for the period FY 2003-2014 (loan disbursement period).”

“The analysis of the books of accounts of the accused companies for FY 2022-23 also revealed that the stock as of August 17, 2023, in the accused companies had been brought to zero despite being hypothecated to SBI. Fictitious entities with relatives as dummy directors were created to apply for new loans fraudulently. Loans were routed through a convoluted web of bogus sale-purchase transactions involving related parties of Rajmal Lakhichand Group, and the funds were eventually invested in immovable properties by the promoters. A new jewelry business named R L Enterprises was established, and investments were made in the real estate sector, car dealership, and the establishment of a hospital,” ED said.

ED also mentioned that suspicious documents were recovered from the mobile phones, indicating an FDI proposal of 50 million Euros from a Luxembourg-based entity in a real estate company controlled by Manish Jain.

Details of 60 properties belonging to the Rajmal Lakhichand Group were gathered during the search proceedings, valued at more than Rs 50 Crore, along with 2 benami properties beneficially owned by Rajmal Lakhichand Manish Jain located in Jamner, Jalgaon, and surrounding areas.

ED said that further investigation into the matter is ongoing. —IANS