PMC Bank scam: ED attaches 3 hotels in Delhi worth Rs 100 crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday attached three hotels in Delhi valued at around Rs 100 crore under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the PMC Bank fraud case. The three hotels that have been attached by the agency belong to the Fab Hotels group and are located in Kailash Colony, East of Kailash and Kalkaji areas of the national capital.

These properties are owned by Libra Realtors Pvt Ltd, Deewan Realtors Pvt Ltd, Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, Romy Mehra, Libra Hotels Pvt Ltd and its directors, the ED said in a statement. The "market value" of these three properties is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore.

During the investigation, the agency found that "proceeds of crime totalling Rs 247 crore were obtained fraudulently by Libra Realtors Pvt Ltd, Deewan Realtors Pvt from PMC Bank in the guise of loans". These loans are part of the Rs 6,117 crores owed by HDIL group of companies to the PMC Bank, the ED claimed.

Earlier in December last year, the ED had submitted a 7,000-page chargesheet in the PMC Bank fraud case at the PMLA court, naming Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters, Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, and the bank's former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.

The ED has earlier attached properties of Rakesh Wadhawan and his family trust worth Rs 193 crore and had seized jewellery worth Rs 63 crore.

The fraud at PMC Bank came to light in September last year after the RBI placed directions on the urban co-operative bank and placed an administrator. The central bank discovered that the bank had allegedly created fictitious accounts to hide over Rs 6,700 crore in loans extended to the almost-bankrupt HDIL. The chargesheet stated that the scam was of around Rs 4,700 crores in the primary chargesheet, but the audit report estimated the bank's loss at around Rs 6,700 crore.

By Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: PMC Bank scam: EOW files 33,000 pages chargesheet, HDIL promoters booked in Rs 6,300 crore fraud

Also Read: PMC Bank-HDIL scam: Bank disbursed loans to Wadhawans without record, required forms