BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached immovable and movable properties of Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha and Sri Guru Sarvabhouma Credit Co-Operative Ltd, and their associates, worth Rs 45.32 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the co-operative bank fraud case, an ED spokesperson said.Giving details of the provisionally attached assets, the officer said movable assets of Rs 7.16 crore are in the form of bank balances and fixed deposits belonging to the president, ex-vice president, former and present chief executive officers of Raghavendra Sahakara Bank and Sri Guru Sarvabhouma Credit Co-Operative.
“The attached 29 immovable properties worth Rs 38.16 crore are in the form of agricultural land, residential apartments, houses held in the name of K Ramakrishna, late TS Sathyanarayana, late MV Maiya, Santosh Kumar A and other employees of the two co-operative banks,” said the officer.
“Ramakrishna and Sathyanarayana were president and vice-president respectively, of both Raghavendra Sahakara Bank and Sarvabhouma Credit Co-operative Ltd. The latter was established by Ramakrishna in 2015 to avoid paying Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) which co-operative banks are required to pay under the Income Tax Act. From 2016 to 2019, Ramakrishna and Maiya transferred crores of rupees from Guru Sarvabhouma Credit Co-operative to the NPA accounts of the bank to reduce the NPA parameter,” he added.
The ED initiated investigation based on an FIR registered by Banaswadi police station, Bengaluru, on February 7 this year under Sections 420, 120B, 409, 406, 34 of the IPC forcheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust, and Section 9 of the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments (KPID) Act, 2004, against Maiya and others. The FIR accuses them of embezzling more than Rs 1,500 crore, collected from depositors, mostly senior citizens, through fixed deposits by promising them 12-16 per cent interest per annum.
“The accused withdrew money from the bank by creating fictitious loan accounts and did not repay the money, committing breach of trust. The proceeds of crime were found to be laundered in the name of many bank employees,” the officer said. Ramakrishna and his family members are absconding, and Maiya committed suicide.