Rs 3316 Cr bank fraud case: ED gets custody of Prithvi Info MD Vuppalapati Satish

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Vuppalapati Satish Kumar, MD of Prithvi Information Solutions Limited for money laundering and causing a loss of around Rs 3316 Crore to a consortium of public sector Banks in connivance with Hima Bindu B, MD of VMC Systems Limited.

ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of FIR filed by CBI against VMC Systems Limited and VMCSL. The companies had taken loans from a consortium of banks and the present outstanding have mounted to Rs.3316 Crore.

Forensic Audit revealed that VMCSL circulated loans to various related entities to inflate its books of accounts. Forensic Audit further revealed that VMCSL had opened various Letters of Credit (LCs) worth Rs 692 Crore in the name of fake/dummy entities, which were subsequently devolved by V Satish Kumar through his company PISL and Ennar Energy Limited and with the active assistance of his sister Hima Bindu.

It was aimed to dodge the banks and create false and exaggerated operational revenues by generating fake sales and purchase invoices through the companies controlled by their family members. V. Satish Kumar and V Hima Bindu siphoned off a part of proceeds of crime by remitting it to the overseas entities controlled by their family members.

Although V Satish Kumar claimed that he had no link with the NPA of VMCSL, more than 40 hard disks of VMCSL were recovered from his residence during the search carried out by ED on July 20, 2021. On forensic examination of digital devices, it was found that he had indulged in Benami transactions and involved in efforts to transfer fraud amounts to off-shore entities.

An ED spokesman said he was non-cooperative during the investigation and was not supplying documents of his own business entities on one pretext or the other. He was arrested under PML Act and produced before the PMLA Special Court. The Court has granted 10 days custody to ED. Earlier, V Hima Bindu was arrested under PMLA and is presently in ED Custody till Aug 18 2021.