ED chargesheets ex-Cong MP, 38 others in bank fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has filed a chargesheet against 39 entities, including former Andaman and Nicobar Islands MP and Congress leader Kuldeep Rai Sharma, in a Rs 500-crore cooperative bank fraud linked money laundering case.

The prosecution complaint was filed on November 14 before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Port Blair, the agency said in a statement. Those named include Sharma, a former chairman of the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCBL), the bank’s Managing Director K Murugan, Loan Officer K Kalaivanan and accused persons Sanjay Lal and Sanjeev Lal, apart from several companies.

The money laundering case originates from an FIR by the Crime and Economic Offences Cell of the Andaman and Nicobar Police. According to the ED, the case concerns the “fraud” allegedly committed by officials of the cooperative bank, including Sharma, who were responsible for loan sanctioning.

“These persons, in connivance with their accomplices, floated several shell companies and sanctioned large loans to them as well as to their regular entities in flagrant violation of the rules and laid down procedure of the bank, with the sole intent of not repaying the funds, thereby causing losses to the bank and generating corresponding gains for themselves,” the ED charged.

The agency said loan facilities were granted through more than 100 accounts in the names of various firms and dummy companies, in “complete disregard” of the bank’s procedures. The fraud amount exceeds Rs 500 crore, it added.

Sharma, Murugan and Kalaivanan allegedly availed loans in the names of companies set up in the names of their relatives and associates. “The bank officials also helped their associates, namely Sanjay Lal, Sanjeev Lal and others, to obtain multiple loans in lieu of 5 per cent commission on the instructions of Kuldeep Rai Sharma,” the ED claimed, adding that the commission was taken in cash or routed through shell firms.

Sharma, Murugan, Kalaivanan and Sanjay Lal have been arrested and are currently in judicial custody.