ED attaches Rs 20.26-cr FDs in fake TED claim case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 8

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said it had issued a provisional attachment order under Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) to seize fixed deposits (FDs) worth Rs 20.26 crore in connection with its probe into a case relating to alleged fake refund claim of Terminal Excise Duty (TED).

Officials in the ED said the company, Crystal Crop Protection Pvt Ltd (CCPL), its directors Nand Kishore Agarwal, Ankur Agarwal and Mohit Kumar Goel, and then joint director of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) AK Singh posted in Ahmedabad were first booked by the Gandhinagar unit of the CBI in January last year “for committing a fraud of Rs 20.26 crore with the government exchequer in connivance with the concerned public servant”.

Based on the CBI FIR, the ED later filed a criminal case under various Sections the PMLA against the accused.

“Investigation found that the said DFIA licence entitled them refund of the terminal excise duty in case of local procurement. However, since the CCPL had procured goods from a Jammu-based unit and excise duty was exempted on the said goods it was not entitled for payment and subsequent refund of the TED,” the ED said in a statement.

“The CCPL purchased duty free import authorisation (DFIA) licence from an exporter and used the same for claim of refund of TED on local procurement of insecticides from Modern Papers, a Jammu-based unit,” the agency said.

The ED further said the CCPL had claimed refund of TED on such goods which were purchased by them prior to issuance of the advance release order by the DGFT. “Thus, by making fraudulent claims, the CCPL got refund of TED to the tune of Rs 20.26 crore from the DGFT, Ahmedabad,” it added.