The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 27 immovable properties held in the name of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath, their family members and associates totalling to Rs 11.05 crore with a current market value of Rs 33.39 crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a Pisciculture Bank loan fraud case.
These attached assets, located in and around Hyderabad and Vijayawada, belong to accused Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath and their family members and associates.
ED initiated investigations under the provisions of PMLA based on FIR of CBI, BS & FC, Bengaluru, against Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Managing Director of M/s Venus Aqua Foods Limited and other directors of the company for defrauding Union Bank of India (erstwhile Andhra Bank), Gudivada branch to the tune of Rs 36.97 crore.
The investigation conducted under PMLA revealed that the Venus Aqua Foods Limited had availed Rs 19.44 crore Fish Tank Loans from the Union Bank of India, Gudivada by furnishing forged and fabricated documents including fake lease documents for 470 acres of fish farms.
The loan funds were diverted and not repaid causing a loss of Rs 36.97 crore.
The investigation further revealed that the accused also availed Fish Tank Loans in the name of 54 individuals including themselves, their family members, their friends, relatives, associates and their family members to the tune of Rs 22.64 crore. These loans were taken on the pretext of pisciculture, but instead, the money was siphoned off and diverted to the main accused who in turn used this money to introduce share capital in M/s VAFL which help the company to borrow more.
Part of the loan funds was also used to acquire immovable properties in the names of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath, their family members and associates to disguise their origin and were projecting them as untainted properties.
An amount of Rs 1.72 Crore was diverted in the production of a Telugu movie “Aakasame Haddu”.
All the loans have become NPA and after conducting fund trail investigation and on the identification of these assets have been provisionally attached under PMLA.
Further investigation is in progress.
