Bank loan fraud: ED raids SP leader, his company

Lucknow, Feb 23 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided locations in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana as part of an alleged Rs 750 crore bank loan fraud linked money laundering probe against a road construction and toll plazas operating company promoted by SP leader Vinay Shankar Tiwari, official sources said.

The search action is being carried out against Gangotri Enterprises and its main promoters under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The main promoters of the company are Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Rita Tiwari and Ajeet Pandey.

Vinay Shankar Tiwari is the son of late minister and strongman from Gorakhpur Hari Shankar Tiwari. He represented his father’s assembly constituency of Chillupar in Gorakhpur after he was elected on a BSP ticket. He later joined the Samajwadi Party (SP).

These accused are alleged to have indulged into an alleged bank loan fraud of about Rs 750 crore between 2012 and 2016 against a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India (BoI), the sources said.

About ten premises in Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Noida in UP, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Gurugram (Haryana) are being searched by the ED officials, they said.

Gangotri Enterprises is a company that undertakes construction of roads, operates toll plazas and other government contracts.

The agency had attached assets worth about Rs 72 crore of the company in this case in November, 2023. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR.

Gangotri Enterprises Ltd., the ED had alleged in a statement, “in collusion” with its promoters, directors and guarantors “fraudulently” availed credit facilities to the tune of Rs 1,129.44 crore from consortium of seven banks led by the BoI.

The said credit facilities were not re-paid and “grossly diverted and misappropriated” by Gangotri Enterprises Ltd. and its promoters, directors and guarantors in violation of banking norms causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 754.24 crore to the consortium of banks, the agency had said.