Surana Group targeted by Enforcement Directorate with Rs 124 crore assets seized

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth approximately Rs 124 crore that are possessed by various persons and entities associated with the Chennai-based Surana Group of Companies. The move is in connection with three cases of bank fraud involving a principal outstanding amount of Rs 3,986 crore to public sector banks. The ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs 124.95 crore. With this new attachment, the total attachment in the case stands at Rs 248.98 crore. The investigation was initiated by the ED on the basis of three FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The ED had arrested four people in July 2022, revealing that the group of companies defrauded the banks by creating a web of shell companies to round trip/layer the credit capital of the banks and projecting the bank funds as unsecured loans from their associate shell companies. The diverted funds were then subsequently infused in the main group companies to enhance the drawing power limits, while some were used to purchase movable/immovable properties in the names of various benami persons/companies.