ED attaches Rs 205-crore assets of MGM Maran, Anand under money laundering act in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 205.36 crore of MGM Maran and MGM Anand and their company, Southern Agrifurane Industries Pvt Ltd, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, after the Madras HC dismissed a writ petition filed by the company.

MGM Maran was the Chairman of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited (TMBL) in 2007 when he, along with other directors/officials of TMBL, facilitated a deal of sale of 23.60% shares of TMBL from Indian shareholders to unauthorised overseas individuals.

It was also found that MGM Maran acquired undisclosed foreign investments of Rs 293.91 crore outside India during the same period. Such undisclosed investments were without the approval of the RBI.
It was also found that Maran also started transferring his wealth from India overseas to keep the same out of reach of Indian law enforcement agencies in the garb of Overseas Direct Investments from the Indian company, Southern Agrifurane Industries Pvt Ltd.

It is learnt that Central Crime Branch (CCB-Chennai) registered an FIR based on a complaint from Axis Bank, which was the authorised dealer (AD) bank. Accordingly, an ECIR was recorded by ED, a release said. On October 2022, Southern Agrifurane Industries Pvt Ltd filed a writ petition against ED proceedings at the Madras High Court and obtained an interim stay on the proceedings.

ED in its detailed counter affidavit explained the entire background of the case. Subsequently, the high court dismissed the writ petition and upheld that the company, by making a false declaration, induced the AD bank to deliver valuable foreign exchange, and such remittance in the hands of the wholly owned subsidiaries of the company, situated outside India, would constitute proceeds of crime.