The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday revealed that it had attached fresh assets worth Rs 110 crore in connection with Karvy Stock Broking Limited (KSBL) money-laundering case. Earlier this year, the money-laundering case was filed based on FIRs by the Hyderabad Police on the complaints of lending banks. According to complaints, the Karvy Group was allegedly involved in availing large loans worth about Rs 2,800 crore by illegally pledging their clients’ shares. According to the NSE and SEBI, the loans have become a non-performing asset (NPA) after the release of the client’s securities.
KSBL, once one of the leading stock brokers in the country, came to light when a limited-purpose inspection of KSBL conducted in 2019 by the NSE revealed that KSBL had not revealed a DP Account and credited the funds raised by pledging client securities to 6 of its bank accounts instead of the stock broker-client account.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) identified and attached movable assets worth Rs 110.70 crore. However, in this case, the total attachment of properties by the ED stands at Rs 2,095 crore.
Enforcement Directorate has also expressed that a “very complex web” of financial transactions has been executed to hide the source of these funds. For this, various shell companies and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have been used.