ED Arrests SP Leader Tiwari In ₹700 Cr Bank Fraud Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Samajwadi Party leader and former MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari and one more person in connection with over Rs 700 crore bank fraud case, the agency said on Tuesday.

Alongside Tiwari, Ajeet Pandey, a key managerial figure at Gangotri Enterprises, was also taken into custody.

Both Tiwari and Pandey were arrested on April 7 during searches conducted at 10 locations in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj and Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai in the bank fraud case against Gangotri Enterprises Limited and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The searches were conducted at the residences as well as the office premises of Tiwari, along with other Directors and Contractors of Gangotri Enterprises Limited, to trace and unearth the Proceeds of Crime.

Both individuals were subsequently produced before the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Lucknow. The court granted judicial custody for 14 days, following which Tiwari and Pandey were sent to Lucknow Jail. They were later granted to ED custody till April 11 by a special court.

Tiwari is a promoter of Gangotri Enterprises, a company that has been actively involved in executing government contracts. The firm is now at the center of a major investigation into large-scale financial irregularities.

ED initiated an investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation after the company GEL committed a bank fraud of Rs 754 crore in collusion with its directors, promoters and guarantors.

ED investigation revealed that money was diverted and misappropriated, by way of siphoning off to various related paper concerns operated and controlled by main promoter of the company Tiwari, and his family members and relatives, causing wrongful loss to the consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 754 crore. “Many of his relatives are either directors, shareholders or guarantors in the company GEL,” ED said in a statement.

In this case, two Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) were issued. The first PAO, dated Noember 17, 2023, valuing Rs 72.08 crore and the second PAO, dated March 18, 2024, of Rs 30.86 crore, were issued and confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority.

“It has been found during the search that funds were diverted under the garb of investment and interest free loans and advances were given to its group companies. Some high-value properties were also transferred to Benami/paper entities without any consideration when the loan account turned NPA,” said the ED.

Search operations resulted in the recovery of several incriminating documents, it added. (ANI)