The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) zonal office in Gurugram, Haryana state, has properties worth INR5.5 billion (USD65.4 million) owned by the Amtek group, its promoter Arvind Dham and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
This follows the attachment of INR51.15 billion of assets against the same entities on 5 September 2024. After the ED searched more than 40 locations, Arvind Dham had been arrested on 6 September 2024 for fraud.
The attachment of assets follows the Supreme Court’s direction to the ED to investigate bank fraud committed by the Amtek Auto group of companies. IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra had even registered criminal complaints against the Amtek group for illegally diverting money from bank loans leading to losses. The court was concerned about diversion of public money even if the banks had settled the accounts.
All the provisionally attached properties have been identified as proceeds of crime.
The ED’s investigation also revealed that the Amtek group of companies had undergone insolvency and the resolution would have resulted in the banks receiving an 80% cut in debts owed, which would cause a substantial loss. It was also revealed that financial statements had been deceitfully manipulated to obtain additional fraudulent loans, create bogus assets and investments in the accounts.
Investigations in this case are ongoing.
