ED attaches ₹79.78 crore worth of properties linked to Sharon Bio-Medicine bank fraud case | File Photo
Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mumbai on Friday provisionally attached immovable assets worth approximately Rs 79.78 Crore, in the form of flats, plots, hotel and agriculture lands located at Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Satara, Raigad in Maharashtra and Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand in connection with a money laundering case linked to a Rs 220-crore alleged bank fraud case against a pharma company Sharon Bio Medicine Ltd. (SBML).
With this latest action under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the total attachment and seizure in the case have now reached Rs 96.20 crore, the agency stated on Monday.
The ED’s money laundering case is based on the original case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – ACB Mumbai against Sharon Bio-Medicine Limited, Mohan Prasad Kala, Savita Satish Gowda, Lalit Shambu Misra, and others under various sections of the IPC, 1860, and the PC Act, 1988. for committing fraud against banks by using bogus documents. SBML allegedly caused a loss of about Rs 220 crore to the banks.
The ED’s investigation revealed that Sharon Bio-Medicine Limited (SBML), a pharmaceutical company engaged in the manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, had been availing various credit facilities from multiple banks using forged documents and bogus contracts.
The probe uncovered that Mohan Kala, Savita Gowda, and Lalit Misra, the then directors of SBML, with the assistance of others, inflated, fudged, and manipulated stock statements, balance sheets, and company records. They engaged in circular transactions disguised as sales and purchases, creating fictitious entries to secure substantial loans from banks.
Additionally, the directors of the Company set up multiple shell companies and firms, appointing SBML employees and relatives of Mohan Kala and Savita Gowda as directors or shareholders to which the bank funds were diverted and siphoned off.
Investigation said that the funds, which were meant for legitimate business purposes, were instead misappropriated and utilized for personal gain, including the purchase of various properties in the names of the directors and their associated entities or individuals.
