KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached the fixed deposits and landed property worth Rs 1.54 crore of a Changanassery native who allegedly forged documents to dupe an NRI businessman. He swindled funds equivalent to more than Rs 3 crore from the businessman based in Doha, Qatar, an ED official said. The central agency is probing the matter based on a case registered at the Changanassery Police Station in 2019.
According to the ED official, Changanassery native Syamraj Natarajan forged documents with help from Khalid Manguniyil and Rishal Ahammed, both belonging to Kottayam. Syamraj was working in Doha with Field Industrial Supplies that dealt with a Customs clearance agency named Four Star Trading and Services WLL, where Khalid and Rishal were working.
Field Industrial Supplies — owned by Francis George Federic, a Kochiite — was involved in the supply of valves and other components for an irrigation project in Qatar.
Following up on the Kerala Police probe, ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the transaction details of various bank accounts held by Syamraj were collected. He bought a property for Rs 40 lakh and constructed a house spending Rs 50 lakh.
“We found a huge volume of transactions including foreign inward remittance through these accounts. Moreover, it is found that an amount of Rs 60 lakh was put in a fixed deposit account. Further, he used the proceeds of the crime for the purchase of a property and to construct a house in that property by spending Rs 90 lakh,” an ED official said.