Mumbai: ED conduct searches at four premises, seize gold and silver worth Rs 47.76 crore

The recovered gold

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has concluded an ongoing search operation at 4 premises belonging to M/s Raksha Bullion and M/s Classic Marbles. The searches were conducted in connection with the money laundering probe in case of M/s Parekh Aluminex limited. During the searches, the agency has recovered more than 91 Kg gold and 188 Kg of silver from the secret lockers of the company, official sources said.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate, had recorded Money Laundering case against M/s Parekh Aluminex Limited on 08.03.2018, under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, they said.

The company allegedly duped banks and took loans of around Rs 2296.58 Crore. The said money was thereafter siphoned off by layering through various companies. The money was routed to various accounts in 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, sources added.

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The agency had seized cash amount of around 200 crore in 2019, ED sources said,

"On searching the private lockers, it was found that the locker operation was being done without following the proper norms. No KYC was followed and there was no CCTV camera installed at the premise. There was no entry and exist register. Searches revealed that there were 761 lockers of which 3 belonged to M/s Raksha Bullion. On operating the lockers 91.5 kgs of gold and 152 kg of silver was found in two lockers and the same was seized. An additional 188 kgs of silver was also seized from the premises of M/s Raksha Bullion. Total value of seized items is Rs. 47.76 crore," the agency said in a statement .

Further investigation is in progress.