The Enforcement Directorate arrested Amtek Group promoter Arvind Dham in connection with a bank fraud case involving more than Rs 25,000 crore. The businessman has been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
A special PMLA court in Delhi granted seven-day custody to the investigation agency.
The money laundering case against the company and its directors originated from a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR based on complaints from IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
Allegations included diversion of loans through deceit, fraud, and criminal breach of trust, resulting in a wrongful loss amounting to Rs 673.35 crore for the banks, the agency said.
In February, the Supreme Court, during its adjudication of a public interest litigation concerning the Amtek Auto group of companies, instructed the ED to conduct an investigation into the matter.
The Supreme Court in February, while deciding a public interest petition against the Amtek Auto group of companies, directed the ED to investigate the case.
The agency conducted raids last month at the premises of Dham, another company director, Gautam Malhotra and others in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Nagpur.
Amtek Group defaulted on loans exceeding Rs 25,000 crore taken from more than 15 banks, ED said.
Group companies like ARG Ltd., ACIL Ltd., Amtek Auto Ltd., Metallic Forging Ltd. and Castex Technologies Ltd., along with other group firms, were taken to insolvency—the resolution of which has led to a huge haircut of more than 80% for the banks, causing substantial loss to the financial system, the agency said.
Dham, it was alleged, was the ‘beneficial owner’ of several benami properties in various companies, with employees of the Amtek Group like peons, drivers, field boys and persons with ‘no linkage’ to the group companies acting as directors.
