The Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh chargesheet in its money laundering investigation against Shakti Bhog Foods. The new chargesheet name two operatives who allegedly provided fake business entries in the bank loan fraud case worth ₹3,269 crore.
The financial probe agency said in a statement on Thursday that the prosecution complaint has been filed against Ashok Kumar Goel and Devki Nandan Garg before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in New Delhi.
Both operatives were arrested by the ED in September, and have been charged for having an “active involvement in the offence of money laundering in bank fraud of ₹3269.42 crore by Shakti Bhog Foods Limited (SBFL)."
The ED accused Goel and Garg of “assisting Shakti Bhog Foods Limited and its directors in generation, acquisition, layering and siphoning off its loans funds through shell companies under their disposal".
“They were actively involved in providing fake bills to the company without actual business transactions," the agency mentioned in its latest chargesheet.
These fake bills, it alleged, “Facilitated inflated stock, turnover and purchase/sale of SBFL to enable it to secure enhanced credit facilities from consortium banks on the basis of this inflated financial reports."
ED stated Goel and Garg were “beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime."
The money laundering case against Shakti Bhog Foods Limited was filed after studying a CBI FIR that charged it and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct.
The agency had also arrested the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Shakti Bhog Foods Limited K K Sharma and a chartered accountant (CA) named Raman Bhuraria in this case.
It has attached assets worth over ₹98 crore and filed its first chargesheet sometime back against the company, Kumar, Bhuraria and others.
The CBI FIR against the company and its promoters came about after the State Bank of India (SBI) registered a complaint against the company.
According to the SBI, the directors allegedly falsified accounts and forged documents to siphon off public funds.
The 24-year-old company, which is into manufacturing and selling wheat, flour, rice, biscuits, cookies, etc, had grown organically as it ventured into food-related diversification over a decade with a turnover growth of ₹1,411 crore in 2008 to ₹6,000 crore in 2014, the bank complaint had said.
(With PTI inputs)
