New Delhi, March 13 The Enforcement Directorate said on Friday that it has frozen 90 bank accounts following recent searches in the IDFC First Bank-linked money laundering case, where an alleged sum of ₹590 crore of Haryana government funds is said to have been siphoned off.
The federal investigation agency claimed that the alleged fraud's modus operandi includes using multiple shell (dummy) companies and bogus billing for gold purchases.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches in Chandigarh (Tricity – Chandigarh, Mohali in Punjab and Panchkula in Haryana), Gurugram (Haryana) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) covering a total of 19 premises on March 11.
The ED said that the accused embezzled public money by routing and layering funds across multiple shell entities.
Most of the funds have been channeled through the bank accounts of jewelers to create an illusion of gold purchases through bogus billing, it said.
The agency identified one of the shell companies involved in the case as Swastik Desh Projects Pvt Ltd, whose partners are Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla.
The scam was perpetrated over the last year with the assistance of former employees of the bank, including Ribhav Rishi, it said. The "proceeds of crime" were "transferred" to the account of Rishi and his wife Divya Arora, according to the agency.
"During searches, more than 90 bank accounts have been frozen, and incriminating material in the form of digital as well as documentary evidence has been seized," the ED said.
The raids followed the registration of a case by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognizance of a Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau FIR.
According to the Bureau, 11 accused have been arrested so far, including six bank employees, four private individuals, and a government official, as part of this investigation.