Central agency makes arrests and seizures worth hundreds of crores
PANAJI
The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Panaji Zonal Office has tightened its action against alleged money laundering in Goa, carrying out arrests and property seizures worth crores in a string of cases over the past six weeks.
While the Goa Police are pursuing criminal investigations, the ED is now expected to take up yet another case of a bank employee who allegedly siphoned funds and misappropriated gold from a customer’s account.
Tanvi Vast, employed through Vision India at Central Bank of India, Curchorem, allegedly diverted Rs 5.5 lakh from the account of complainant Rosalina Dias into her own. She is also accused of duping the victim of gold ornaments worth around Rs 25 lakh by returning plated metal in their place. Vast was arrested by the Police after a complaint with the ED to probe the money laundering angle.
The ED has simultaneously widened its reach into several other case investigations. In the most recent case on September 8, the agency seized fake gold ornaments during searches linked to a Rs 2.63 crore loan fraud involving jewellers Gundu Kelvekar and Hemant Raikar. The ornaments, weighing 4.5 kg, were found to be white metal plated to resemble gold. Officials stated that loans had been fraudulently obtained from UCO Bank branches using fake collateral, with the proceeds subsequently layered through cash withdrawals and transactions with bullion dealers. Kelvekar’s wife, Mayuri, has also come under the scanner.
Just two days later, on September 10, the Directorate unearthed a communidade land-grabbing racket in Anjuna, Assagao and nearby areas worth over Rs 1,200 crore. The searches across Goa and Hyderabad led to the seizure of cash, luxury cars and documents.
On September 5, the Panaji office joined its Chennai counterpart in raids linked to the Rs 637 crore Arvind Remedies Ltd bank fraud case. Premises across several cities, including Goa, were searched. The company’s promoters allegedly siphoned consortium bank funds through shell entities, with assets and shares frozen by the agency.
The focus on Goa has also tied into its links with drug trafficking — in August, the ED arrested Zimbabwean national Tariro Brightmore Mangwana for laundering suspected drug proceeds connected to a record 4.3 kg cocaine seizure in South Goa earlier this year.
That same month, searches were carried out at five casinos in Panaji and Calangute in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged betting racket involving Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra Puppy.
The ED has also been active in attachment proceedings. On August 29, properties worth Rs 2.86 crore linked to Crown Minerals Trading Corporation were provisionally attached over a Rs 7 crore Canara Bank fraud. Earlier, on July 30, land and assets worth Rs 212.85 crore belonging to alleged land grabber Rohan Harmalkar were frozen, followed by a prosecution complaint against him and four others in early August.
The agency’s actions also extend to investor protection cases as, on August 5, a prosecution complaint was filed against Delhi-based Krishan Kumar alias Vijay Kumar Jaiswal and his wife Rashmi for allegedly duping over 2,000 investors through fraudulent schemes promising unrealistic returns.
Extensive probe
"We are probing the financial and laundering aspects under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, including the volume of proceeds of crime in Goa. As our investigation progresses, it could rise significantly. Goa Police are pursuing criminal charges simultaneously,” an official told The Goan. “As more cases come up, we will coordinate with the Police to probe them under the PMLA Act.”
