Bank fraud: ED attaches over 500 acres of land worth Rs 814 crore of UP oil company

The ED said on Wednesday that it attached more than 520 acres of land, located in various states and worth Rs 814 crore, of a Uttar Pradesh-based edible oil manufacturing company as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged bank loan fraud. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation pertains to the Varanasi-headquartered JVL Agro Industries Limited that produced the "Jhoola Dalda" brand of vegetable oil, and its promoters Satya Narayan Jhunjhunwala and Adarsh Jhunjhunwala, who were first booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The company is currently under liquidation.

The attached properties are in the form of land measuring 521 acres in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Rohtas (Bihar), Palam (New Delhi) and Raigarh (Maharashtra).


These lands are registered in the name of JVL Infra Heights Limited, JVL Mega Food Park Private Limited, JVL Cement Limited, Premium Pressure Vessels Private Limited, and the promoters themselves, the federal agency said in a statement.

The ED raided these entities in June.

The company had units in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal and was involved in the manufacturing and trading of different edible oils, the agency said.

It used to import crude oil and other raw materials from Singapore, Malaysia, etc through its foreign subsidiary JVL Overseas Pte Limited, Singapore, it said.

JVL Agro Industries availed of credit facilities/loans from banks by submitting "manipulated and inflated" financial statements and "diverted" its funds through various group entities, the ED said.

Satya Narayan Jhunjhunwala acquired and opened various "paper entities" as group companies of JVL Agro Industries and made puppet directors, who were daily-wage employees and his staff, for "diverting" the funds.

He also registered two trusts -- Mahalaxmi Investment Trust and Ratnapriya Investment Trust -- and transferred almost the entire shares of such paper entities in these trusts, which are under his control, the ED said.

The federal agency alleged that this resulted in causing losses to the consortium of banks, led by Bank of Baroda, to the tune of Rs 1,992 crore.