The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested two former senior officials of the debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services company in connection with a money laundering investigation, PTI reported.
The company’s former joint managing director Arun K Saha and former managing director of transportation network K Ramachand were arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They will be presented in a special anti-corruption court in Mumbai on Thursday.
The company allegedly “undertook various circuitous transactions through multilayering and floating of multiple bogus or shell companies to launder funds”, NDTV quoted unidentified officials as saying. “A large chunk of the money was laundered through ILFS road arm ITNL and its subsidiary ILFS Rail.”
These are the first arrests made by the Enforcement Directorate in the case. In April, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office had arrested former managing director and Vice Chairperson of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Hari Sankaran. The same month, the firm’s former Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Bawa was also arrested.
According to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Sankaran had granted loans to IL&FS subsidiaries that were either not creditworthy or were declared non-performing assets. His transactions resulted in losses for the company and its creditors.
IL&FS has an overall debt of Rs 91,000 crore. The company has been attempting to sell its assets to repay the debt after several defaults forced the government to overhaul its management.
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