ED Attached Assets worth Rs.30.50 Crore belongs to Subhra Jyoti Bharali

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached movable & immovable properties worth Rs. 30.50 Crore belonging to Subhra Jyoti Bharali [then Managing Director of Industrial Co-operative Bank Ltd. (ICBL)], companies beneficially owned by Subhra Jyoti Bharali and his family members & associates, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

On the basis of an FIR filed by the Pan Bazar Police Station in Guwahati under various sections of the IPC, 1860, alleging that Subhra Jyoti Bharali had misappropriated and syphoned off the funds of ICBL and another FIR filed by the CBI (Economic Offenses), Assam Police, against Subhra Jyoti Bharali, the ED began a money laundering investigation against Subhra Jyoti Bharali.

Exorbitant sums were credited in the accounts kept in the names of Payment Collectors & Field Executives (PCs & FEs) of ICBL under the guise of salary, incentive, and travel allowance, according to an investigation by ED. Subhra Jyoti Bharali operated all of the accounts that were kept with ICBL in the names of PCs and FEs. A significant portion of the money that was paid in salary, incentives, and travel expenses was improperly transferred to other accounts that were kept with ICBL in the names of entities, family members, accomplices, or mules that were owned, controlled, and operated by Subhra Jyoti Bharali. In addition, loans totaling Rs. 4.5 crore was disbursed in the names of eleven unreliable creditors, including loans for overdrafts, vehicles, and plant and machinery. Additionally, the ICBL collected a portion of the loan sum it had authorized for the Self Help Groups (SHGs) as a fixed deposit in the “Asomi Thrift & Credit Co-operative Society Ltd. (ATCCSL)”. Subhra Jyoti Bharali stole the entire amount of the revenue and used it for her own purposes.

Subhra Jyoti Bharali and others generated around Rs. 30 Crore in proceeds of crime by committing a scheduled offense. Additionally, the majority of the proceeds from the crime were invested in Sashi Kumar Tea Company Pvt. Ltd., integrating the criminal proceeds into the financial system (SKTCPL). A portion of the criminal gains was also used to buy real estate in Subhra Jyoti Bharali’s family members’ names. The ED identified and provisionally attached movable properties totaling 87,70,000 shares of SKTCPL, as well as corresponding/ proportionate immovable properties totaling 2313B4K-15L of a tea estate in Simlitola, Goalpara owned by SKTCPL and 36B-4K-5L of agricultural land in Rani, Kamrup (Rural) worth Rs. 30.5 Crore.

Further investigation is in progress.