Court issues summons to brewery, its MD, 8 others in money laundering case

A special court here has issued summons to Jogeshwari Breweries Private Limited (JBPL), its managing director and eight others in a money laundering case related to allegedly obtaining a loan of more than Rs 83 crore from United Bank of India through forgery.

Special judge M G Deshpande hearing cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on February 17 took cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's chargesheet against 10 accused in the case, including JBPL's managing director Umesh Shinde.

The prosecution's complaint also demonstrates such trail of money, its siphoning off by way of placing, layering and integration, the court said. Hence, prima facie there is ample material and evidence to hold accused for proceedings against them for offence punishable under relevant provisions of the PMLA, the court said while issuing summons to the accused. The accused have been asked to remain present before the court on March 1.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of cheating and forgery cases registered against Shinde and others by police at Kolhapur and Pune.

Investigations conducted by the ED revealed that Shinde forged documents and created various fake accounts at Saraswat Bank in Pune, which were used for circular transactions to show good financial health of his company, the probe agency said.

The payment of margin money required for obtaining loans for the breweries project at Osmanabad was avoided by showing the transactions in the said fake accounts as supplier payments which was required in order to release the loan amounts from the bank side, it said.

The ED said that on the basis of such transactions, the consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank, erstwhile United Bank of India, were deceitfully influenced to sanction loan totalling of Rs 83.33 crore for setting up of a brewery plant at Osmanabad.

Investigation conducted under the PMLA revealed that the funds received were found to be layered amongst various entities and ultimately the tainted funds obtained by such loan was used to pay off previous debts, various bank charges and vendor payments for setting up of a brewery plant at Osmanabad, it said.

Investigation further revealed that the bank funds obtained with the help of fake documents were proceeds of the crime which were layered in various accounts and ultimately integrated in various plants, machineries and other installations at Osmanabad, it added.