ED arrests VMCSL MD V Hima Bindu, for cheating banks Rs. 3316 Cr

Hyderabad: The sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested V. Hima Bindu, the managing director of Hyderabad-based VMCSL, on Thursday for cheating a consortium of public sector banks to the tune of Rs. 3,316 crore.

ED started an investigation against VMCSL for money laundering on the basis of an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. A forensic audit revealed that VMCSL circulated loans to various related entities to inflate its books of accounts.

Further probe revealed that a company, PISL (related entity), was given three per cent commission amount by VMCSL for all receipts from BSNL without any specific role of PISL in BSNL tenders. Secondly, VMCSL had opened various Letters of Credit (LCs) worth Rs. 692 crore in the name of fake entities which were subsequently devolved.

Hima Bindu's role was to dodge the banks. ED found that Hima Bindu through her company VMCSL and with the active assistance of her brother V. Satish, the managing director of PISL, created false operational revenues by generating fake sales/purchase invoices through the companies controlled by their directors/family members.

"Hima Bindu siphoned off a part of proceeds of crime by remitting it to overseas entities controlled by her family members," ED officials said in a statement.

On 20 July 2020, ED conducted searches at the residences of Hima Bindu, Satish, and V. Madhavi and seized many incriminating documents and digital data in the form of 40 external hard discs, six mobiles phones, and two laptops.

Hima Bindu was arrested on Thursday for failing to respond to ED summons and not submitting the documents of her companies and transactions. "She blatantly lied regarding their foreign transactions. She has been arrested under section 19 of the PMLA and has been produced before the PMLA Special Court and remanded to judicial custody till 18 August," the ED said.