ED attaches immovable properties worth Rs. 298.21 crore of Chettinad Group

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Chennai, has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 298.21 crore (approx.) of M/s. South India Corporation Ltd. (SICPL), a group company of M/s. Chettinad Group, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the agency said in a release on Saturday.

According to the release, the ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), Chennai, under various sections of IPC, 1860, and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against the former officials of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, Chennai (TANGEDCO) and SICPL.

ED investigation revealed that in 2001, a contract for handling the coal at the Vizag Port during its transportation via rail-sea-rail route was awarded to M/s. SICPL for the period of five months only. However, even before the opening of the bids in the said tender, M/s Western Agencies Madras Pvt Ltd., filed a Civil Suit before the City Civil Court, Chennai, the Court had ordered time to time injunction till 2019, the ED said in its release.

M/s SICPL has paid an amount of Rs 217.31 crore (approx.) as levy to Vishakapattinam Port Trust for the period between 2011-12 and 2018-19, whereas TANGEDCO had paid an amount of Rs 1126.10 crore (approx.) to M/s SICPL as reimbursement of levy. Thus, the difference between the above-mentioned amount, that is Rs 908.79 crore (approx.) was the loss caused to TANGEDCO and the wrongful gain to SIC Ltd., the ED said.

In April 2023, ED conducted searches on various premises belonging to SICPL and others, and resultantly, an amount of Rs 358.20 crore held in the form of fixed deposits lying with the bank account of SCIPL was frozen, the ED said.

Further investigation is under progress, it added.