Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its follow-up action against shell companies on Monday arrested G. Dhananjaya Reddy (48) from Bengaluru under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Official sources said that Reddy had allegedly floated more than 20 shell companies with a clear purpose of defrauding the banks. “He had defrauded several banks, including the United Bank of India (UBI) and had obtained loan of over '70 crore by impersonating and submitting forged/fake documents,” said an official source.
Reddy, according to the Enforcement Directorate, had submitted forged documents of several immovable properties as a third party collateral, which he pledged to the banks as security for the loans, which he took in the name of the various shell companies he had floated.
“The companies were on paper. After getting loans from the banks he transferred the funds from various shell companies located in India to the companies he had floated outside India, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and some other countries. He round tripped the funds to evade tax. Further, Reddy had utilised the loan amount for purposes other than for which they were sanctioned.
He was a wilful defaulter and had not serviced any of his loans. The ED had registered three cases of money laundering against him,” the officer said.
Reddy was arrested and produced before the Special PMLA Court in Bengaluru and has been remanded to Enforcement custody for two days.
