New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Bhubaneswar-based Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd (BTPL), in the loan fraud and money-laundering case involving industrialist Anil Ambani.
In the first arrest made by ED in the Rs 3,000-crore money-laundering case, Biswal was taken into custody under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Biswal, who was produced before a court, has been remanded to ED custody till August 6.
Biswal’s arrest comes a day after the ED conducted searches at BTPL premises in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. It follows an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police against BTPL, its directors and others for allegedly issuing a fake bank guarantee submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
How was BTPL involved?
According to ED, BTPL arranged fake bank guarantees worth Rs 68.2 crore, backed by forged endorsements from State Bank of India and fabricated confirmation emails using spoofed SBI email IDs, India Today reported.
The fake guarantee was used to support a tender floated by SECI.
ED claimed that BTPL allegedly received Rs 5.4 crore from Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Power Ltd to facilitate the fake bank guarantee. Officials of the central probe agency said that the financial trail links BTPL’s fraudulent operations to Anil’s corporate network.
ED’s investigation revealed that BTPL, a firm incorporated in December 2019, had several undisclosed bank accounts and carried out financial transactions which were greatly disproportionate to its reported turnover.
Crores of rupees across at least seven hidden bank accounts have been traced.
Meanwhile, Anil Ambani has been summoned for questioning by ED officials on August 5.
