ED Attaches 11 Properties of PCH Group in Hyderabad, Bengaluru Worth Rs 6.18 Crore

ED Attaches 11 Properties of PCH Group in Hyderabad, Bengaluru Worth Rs 6.18 Crore

In the Loan Fraud case involving Balvinder Singh and his M/s PCH Group of Companies and others, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 11 properties in Hyderabad and Bangalore with a book value of Rs 6.18 crore. On the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI, EOW, Chennai under various sections of the IPC, the ED launched a money-laundering probe. According to the CBI charge sheet, PCH Agencies Pvt Ltd, PCH Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, Balvinder Singh, and others defrauded Punjab and Sind Bank George Town branch, Chennai, of Rs 22.15 crore by obtaining credit from the bank by submitting fabricated documents to show good turnover and illegally diverting loan funds. Following that, the CBI, BS and FC, Bangalore, and the EOB, Chennai, filed two more FIRs against the PCH firms for committing more loan frauds. According to the ED investigation, the PCH group companies took out loans from several public and private banks and failed to repay them. The loan payments were diverted through shell companies in Hyderabad and Mumbai with the help of CAs and entry-operators and received back in the PCH group firms for the aim of portraying a falsely rosy financial health of the companies in order to obtain new loans in a cyclical manner. More than 77 fraudulent shell businesses were used to syphon loan cash with no provision of goods. The rotated monies were shown as unsecured loans and were utilised to portray a fraudulent share capital injection to boost the PCH Group's share holdings in order to obtain more loans and for an upcoming IPO. Balvinder Singh and his wife Baljit Kaur have received money totaling Rs 71.64 crore and Rs 11.42 crore from various shell businesses, according to the investigation so far. All of these cash have been taken from loan revenues. Part of the proceeds of crime were used to acquire properties in his companies' and personal names, which were afterwards mortgaged to banks in order to obtain additional credit. The profits of crime were used to create benami assets in the names of Balvinder Singh's relatives. The entire loan fraud conducted utilising the foregoing method resulted in a loss to the banks of Rs 747 crore. On 08.02.2022, the ED detained Balvinder Singh under the PMLA. As a result, 11 of these properties were identified as proceeds of crime and were attached through the aforementioned Provisional Attachment Order. Further investigation is in progress.