ABG Shipyard fraud: Probe agency attaches Rs 2,747 crore worth assets

New Delhi, Sep 22: The ED today said it has attached shipyards, agricultural lands, commercial properties and bank deposits worth more than Rs 2,747 crore as part of an alleged bank loan fraud linked money laundering investigation against ABG Shipyard Ltd.

The seized properties include shipyards located at Surat and Dahej in Gujarat, agricultural lands and plots, various commercial and residential premises in Gujarat and Maharashtra and bank accounts owned by ABG Shipyard Ltd., its group companies and other related entities, the federal agency said in a statement.

The total value of the provisionally attached assets, under the Prevention of Money Laundering (Act), is Rs 2,747.69 crore.

The Enforcement Directorate action comes a day after the CBI arrested the founder of the company Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, news agency PTI reported.

The money laundering case stems from the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had registered the case on a complaint from the State Bank of India for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The SBI, with an exposure of Rs 2,468.51 crore, was part of a consortium of 28 banks and financial institutions led by the ICICI Bank, CBI officials had said.

The ABG Shipyard has been a major player in the Indian ship building industry and has a capacity to build vessels up to 18,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) at Surat shipyard and 1,20,000 DWT at Dahej shipyard.