ED register PMLA case in ABG Shipyard fraud

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday registered a money laundering case against ABG Shipyard’s erstwhile management and directors under the Prevention of Money Laundering Laws (PMLA) for allegedly diverting loan money out of the total Rs 22,842 crore fraud amount. Confirming the development, a senior official told ET that enforcement case information report (ECIR) has been filed for contravening anti-money laundering law provisions. ECIR is similar to police' first information report.

The ECIR learnt to have named former chairman and managing director of ABG Shipyard Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal and eight others for their alleged involvement in diversion of funds.

ET was first to report about the money laundering probe in the case. The report also named then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal, and Ravi Vimal Nevetia, and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd, said people aware of the matter.


The federal agency may soon summon all the person named in the ECIR for questioning including some public servants, a person privy to the matter said. The move follows Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) action on Saturday, where it has booked ABG Shipyard, its then chairman and managing director, Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, other directors and public servants for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by ICICI Bank of over Rs 22,842 crore.

The federal agency suspects that money borrowed from banks was used to repay loans and other expenses of group companies, as well as for letters of credit on the lines of Punjab National Bank fraud, official said.