₹ 220 Crore Fraud Case: ED Attaches SBML Assets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable assets worth Rs9.39 crore in connection with a Rs220 crore bank fraud case involving Sharon Bio-Medicine Limited (SBML) and others. The attached properties, in the form of flats in Pune, Maharashtra, were seized as part of the ongoing probe, the agency said on Tuesday.

With this latest action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the total attachment and seizure in the case have now reached Rs105.59 crore.

The ED's money laundering case is based on the original case filed by the CBI-ACB Mumbai against SBML, 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 Rs220 crore to the banks.

The ED's investigation revealed that SBML 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.