In connection with a money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate searched the private lockers of a bullion company on Wednesday and seized gold and silver valued at over Rs 47 crore. The police searched 761 personal lockers. Two lockers had 91.5 kg of gold and 152 kg of silver that were found. The ED was able to collect 188 kg of silver from another location.
Four Raksha Bullion and Classic Marbles locations were searched by the financial investigation agency as part of a money laundering probe against Parekh Aluminex Limited. Since March 2018, Parekh Aluminex Limited has been under investigation for duping banks of Rs 2296.58 crore.
‘The said money was thereafter siphoned off by layering through various companies. The money was routed to various accounts in the context of providing unsecured loans and investments. The same was not the purpose of taking the loans and there were no agreements in place for such transactions,’ the ED said.
The ED found private locker keys from Raksha Bullion’s assets during the search. Private lockers were searched, and it was found that there were no proper procedures being followed in the locker operation. No KYC was followed and there was no CCTV camera installed on the premises.
‘There was no in and out register. Searching the lockers revealed that there were 761 lockers, of which 3 belonged to Raksha Bullion. On searching the lockers, 91.5 kg of gold and 152 kg of silver was found in two lockers and the same was seized. An additional 188 kg of silver was also seized from the premises of Raksha Bullion. Total value of seized items is Rs 47.76 crore,’ ED added in its statement.
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