Syndicate Bank fraud case: Enforcement Directorate attaches Rs 5-cr assets

The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday said it has attached assets worth about Rs 5 crore in connection with a money laundering probe linked to an alleged fraud in a Syndicate Bank branch in Bengaluru.

The central probe agency said its investigation in the case was initiated on the basis of an FIR filed by the Bengaluru Police sometime back against Vijay Akkash, Mohamed Musthafa, M D Jairam (the then Assistant Branch Manager of Syndicate Bank, Uttarahalli branch in Bengaluru) and others.

The probe found, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in a statement, that Akkash is the "mastermind" of the entire conspiracy alongwith Jairam, Nagaraju, Revenna, Siddagangaiah, and others.

It said Akkash "opened a fake current account in the Syndicate Bank branch in the name of Karnataka State Agricultural Marketing Board (KSAMB) which was operated by Musthafa who was impersonating as the account officer of KSAMB, based on the fake and fabricated documents such as board resolution, ID card, letter head of KSAMB etc.

The agency claimed they "succeeded in transferring Rs 50 crore to a fake current account (of KSAMB) and Musthafa with the help of bank officer Jairam and others transferred Rs 47,16,62,500 into various bank account belonging to entities and persons who acted as accomplices to the conspiracy."

"The bank accounts of each of those entities or persons were used to withdraw money in the form of cash and to buy jewellery and land by the accused and their accomplices," the ED alleged.

Properties worth a total Rs 4.98 crore in the form bank balance, jewellery and land parcels have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.