CHENNAI: Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 268.66 crore of Agnite Education Limited (earlier Teledata Informatics Limited) and Teledata Marine Solutions Limited in the form of shares, carrier ships and bank balances under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in a bank fraud case.
ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Bank Security and Frauds Cell (BS&FC) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Bengaluru against Agnite Education Limited and its directors K Balasubramaniam and K Padmanabhan. The probe also was launched on another FIR registered by CBI, Economic Offences Branch, Chennai against Teledata Marine Solutions Limited and its directors Balasubramaniam and Padmanabhan.
Investigation revealed Agnite Education Limited and Teledata Marine Solutions Limited availed various credit facilities from State Bank of India and defrauded to the tune of Rs 479 crore. Agnite Education Limited, Teledata Marine Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries fraudulently acquired movable properties in the form of five LPG carrier ships, one oil tanker and bank balances abroad by making sham investments, related party transactions to inflate balance sheets for availing bank loans and expenses for siphoning and diverting funds for promoters benefit.
Most of such associate companies are untraceable. Further, they parked the funds in the form of assets in Austria, Thailand and Bangladesh, using the above modus operandi.