Chandigarh, December 15: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted fresh raids at approximately twelve locations in Delhi-NCR and Punjab as part of a money laundering probe against a Chandigarh-based pharmaceutical company and its promoters linked to an alleged bank fraud, according to official sources.
The initial series of searches targeting Parabolic Drugs, the company in question, occurred in October. The ED had previously arrested Vineet Gupta (54) and Pranav Gupta (56), the promoters of Parabolic Drugs and co-founders of Sonepat-based Ashoka University, along with CA Surjeet Kumar Bansal (74) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In 2022, the Guptas resigned from their positions at Ashoka University after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against them and the company in 2021 for their alleged involvement in a bank loan fraud of ₹1,626 crore.
The ED initiated a money laundering case against them in January of the following year. In October, the agency informed the court that the arrested directors were actively engaged in defrauding banks through the use of forged and fabricated documents.
The ED alleged that the Guptas intentionally manipulated loan funds, changed the color of the funds from liabilities to assets, and diverted and siphoned off the funds through circuitous transactions using their group companies. They were accused of using shell companies to inflate the value of primary security and raised fake invoices while receiving entries from these shell entities.
According to the agency, Bansal, through his chartered accountancy firm, issued false certificates to Parabolic Drugs, facilitating the company in availing loans from a consortium of banks. The ED contended that their illegal activities and misuse of loan funds resulted in a wrongful loss of ₹1,626.7 crore to the Central Bank of India and other consortium banks, as per the CBI FIR presented to the court during the request for the remand of the three individuals.
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