Singal was arrested by the ED in November, 2019 and the agency later attached assets worth over ₹4,423.36 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a Cessna jet worth ₹31 crore belonging to Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BSPL)’s former chairman and managing director Sanjay Singal in a money laundering probe.
A statement issued by the central agency on Thursday said the aircraft, a Cessna 525 A CJ 2+, belongs to Bhushan Airways Services Pvt Ltd, a company “controlled and owned” by Singal. It said the value of the jet is ₹30.91 crore. ED’s probe against Singal is based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case registered in April 2019.
“Sanjay Singal generated proceeds of crime by siphoning of loan funds from BPSL and layered it through various entities under his control and these proceeds of crime were used towards acquisition of the said aircraft as well as for repayment of the bank loan taken for acquiring the said aircraft,” the agency said.
“They did not use the bank funds for the purpose for which the same were sanctioned, committed forgery for the purpose of cheating, used forged documents and falsified the accounts causing wrongful loss to the lending banks, financial institutions, government exchequer,” ED said.Singal’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said, “Investigation agencies in India want to keep everyone on the leash forever. This probe has been continuing since April 2019. I guess I won’t see these cases conclude in my lifetime.”
It was alleged in the CBI first information report (FIR) that BPSL availed various credit facilities from 33 different banks/financial institutions and the outstanding defaulted amount as on January 30, 2018 was ₹ 47,204 crore
BPSL and its directors deliberately defaulted in repayment of loan amounts to lender banks/financial institutions as per the time schedule and their accounts remained continuously irregular, it claimed.
Subsequently, it said, the lead bank in the consortium, Punjab National Bank (PNB), declared the account of BPSL as non-performing asset (NPA) on December 31, 2015, followed by the other banks/financial institutions.
Singal was arrested by the ED in November, 2019 and the agency later attached assets worth over ₹4,423.36 crore. A charge sheet was filed in the matter in January 2020. He was granted bail by a Delhi court in January 2020.
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