NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raids 17 premises in Mumbai, Khandala and New Delhi as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in a corporate insolvency resolution process, said the agency adding that an asset reconstruction company suspected of colluding with Yes Bank officials to fraudulently seize stressed assets.
The federal probing agency carried out raids at the premises linked to Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (SARCL), Suraksha Realty Ltd, Khyati Realtors Pvt Ltd, their promoters, directors and employees, and a former YES Bank employee.
The investigation centres on the alleged fraudulent grant of a loan by Yes Bank to Mackstar Marketing Pvt Ltd and other accounts during 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years.
During probe the agency found that SARCL subsequently acquired these loans through circular transactions engineered in collusion with YES Bank insiders, a mechanism that allowed the Asset Reconstruction Companies to take over stressed assets at artificially deflated valuations rather than through arm's-length negotiations.
Beyond the loan assignments, the ED is also probing a broader pattern of alleged wrongdoing that is inflated and fraudulent claims filed by the Asset Reconstruction Companies, manipulation of creditor voting rights before the National Company Law Tribunal and a lack of transparency in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, the agency said.
