Enforcement Directorate Attaches Property worth Rs. 9.5 Crore of Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels

Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a Provisional Attachment Order and filed a Prosecution Complaint against M/s Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels and its Managing Partner Sanjay Agarwal in a case of fraudulently obtaining a Gold Loan from the State Bank of India using fake/forged Bank Guarantees and forged Bank letters for diverting and misappropriating the funds. The defendants are accused of committing a total loan scam of roughly Rs 90 crore.

On the basis of a FIR dated 19.10.2011 filed by the CBI, BS&FC, Bangalore against M/s Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels and its partners for fraudulently inducing SBI to release 250 KG of metal gold on the strength of forged bank guarantees submitted by Sanjay Agarwal, purportedly issued by PNB, the ED launched a money laundering investigation. When the news of the fraud became public, Sanjay Agarwal and his brothers Ajay Kumar and Vinay Kumar withdrew the whole supply of gold from their business in Abids, Hyderabad, and sold it on the local market for cash, according to the ED investigation. PNB had a mortgage on this shares. Sanjay Agarwal formed a new firm in his wife’s name in December 2012 with the unlawful money they had generated. He went on to start three other businesses in the names of his brothers and one of his employees afterwards. Significant financial deposits were discovered in several bank accounts made in the names of his family members and businesses that he controlled. Sanjay Agarwal also procured a passport in the name of ‘Srikanth Gupta’ and used it to travel abroad several times and open multiple bank accounts to hide his ill-gotten gains. The ED officials followed the money trail to benami property purchased in the name of one of his employees, Avinash Soni.

Sanjay Agarwal was arrested by the ED on February 11, 2022, and nine immovable assets belonging to Sanjay Agarwal, his family members, and benamis were provisionally attached via PAO No. 11/2022 dated April 11, 2022. Agricultural property in Shamshabad and Tellapur, a plot in Raidurgam, a villa in Kompally, and a 1000 sq. yd. villa in the upscale Jubilee Hills neighbourhood are among the linked properties, with a total worth of Rs. 9.5 crore. On the same day, the ED filed its first prosecution complaint against M/s Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels and its Managing Partner Sanjay Agarwal in the MSJ Court in Nampally, Hyderabad, requesting that the attached proceeds of crime be confiscated and the guilty be punished under Section 4 of the PMLA.

The role of other accused persons is now being investigated.