ED Arrests 3 in Fraudulent Company Takeover

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) The ED said on Wednesday that it has arrested three persons including a chartered accountant and a resolution professional as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged bank loan fraud related to regaining control of an insolvent company from the NCLT.

Chartered accountant (CA) Rakesh Kumar Gulati, Ajay Yadav of resolution applicant firm Umaiza Infracon LLP and a person identified as Paramjeet were taken into custody on July 1 by the Gurugram zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court sent them to ED custody till July 9, the agency said in a statement.

The case pertains to Sunstar Overseas Ltd (SOL), its ex-directors Rakesh Aggarwal, Rohit Aggarwal, Manik Aggarwal, Sumit Aggarwal and others.

The money laundering case stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR filed against the company and its former promoters on charges of fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of more than Rs 950 crore to a consortium of nine lender banks.

The ex-promoters, directors and key persons of the company, in connivance with each other as well as other related and unrelated entities, "illegally diverted" loan funds by way of sham trade transactions and by creating fictitious debtors, the ED alleged.

The total admitted claims against SOL was Rs 1,274.14 crore and the entity was taken over through corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) proceedings for only Rs 196 crore by a resolution applicant Umaiza Infracon LLP (of Ajay Yadav) which is a "shell" (dummy) entity as it does not have any funds of its own, the agency said.

"The funds for the said shell entity were arranged from the funds diverted from SOL through its former related/unrelated companies and firms and other persons on the instructions of the ex-directors and promoters (of SOL) and its CA Rakesh Gulati.

"Immediately after the NCLT order, SOL was taken over by a frontal company Shivakriti Agro Pvt. Ltd. (SAPL), actually controlled and operated by ex-directors/ promoters of SOL by instrument of a sham facility agreement," the ED said.

Shivakriti Agro Pvt Ltd has been controlled and managed by the ex-directors and promoters of SOL through Paramjeet and its other ex-employees.

"Rakesh Gulati, common CA of SOL and SAPL, and related entities are found to be involved in the conspiracy and diversion of loan funds to regain the actual control and business of an insolvent company from the national company law tribunal (NCLT)," the ED alleged.