Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Lichen Metals Private Limited (LMPL) and four others before a special court in Kolkata on charges of forgery relating to the duty-free import of gold, an official said on Saturday.
According to a statement issued by ED, the agency started an investigation into the matter on basis of a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against LMPL and other suspected persons and entities.
Explaining the nature of forgery in this case, the ED statement claimed that that on behalf of LMPL, Shyam Sunder Kedia requested the branch manager/general manager of the State Trading Corporation (STC) office in Kolkata, for duty-free import of 2,000 kilograms of gold with a delivery period up to April 30, 2012.
Investigation revealed that based on this tentative requirement of LMPL dated July 25, 2011, which was not even accepted by the overseas bullion suppliers as required in the agreement, officials of STC’s Kolkata office in criminal conspiracy with then branch manager and Shyam Sunder Kedia abused their official positions by splitting the indent of 2,000 kilograms of import of gold into two indents of 1,000 kilograms each.
According to the statement, this was done to make the transactions within the powers of the STC’s branch manager and to avoid the approval of STC’s corporate office as per laid-down financial powers of the branch and corporate offices.
“Based on these fabricated indents, STC officials fraudulently secured a forward exchange cover for $100 million from SBI. This cover was meant to protect against fluctuations in the exchange rate for the gold that was never actually imported,” the statement read.
The ED investigation further revealed that despite no gold being imported, LMPL, in cahoots with the STC officials, sought the cancellation of the forward cover just two months later. This resulted in a wrongful gain of Rs 31.93 crore to LMPL.
It is learnt that ED had earlier provisionally attached movable assets worth Rs 31.93 crore belonging to LMPL under provisions of PMLA, 2002 on August 28, 2024.
(IANS)
