Proceeds of crime over Rs 2,000 crore in Ratul Puri case: ED

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate told a court on Monday that the proceeds of crime from an alleged bank fraud involving Ratul Puri, a nephew of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, were believed to be more than Rs 2,000 crore.

The agency told the local court that it had summoned 25 people in connection with the case and that Puri needed to be confronted with the co-accused. It claimed that Puri was non-cooperative with the investigation. The court remanded him in ED’s custody for four more days, against its demand for eight days. Puri needs to be produced before the court again on August 30.

As first reported by ET on August 22, the ED told the court on the last date of hearing that Puri had set up companies abroad to launder “tainted money” and channelled it back to invest in India. In its remand paper, ED had termed Puri a “habitual offender”. It said he was facing other grave cases of economic offence as well.


The ED and CBI are investigating an alleged Rs 355-crore loan fraud at Central Bank of India involving Moser Baer India, a digital data storage company founded by Puri’s father. The agency has sent letters rogatory to foreign countries to identify funds allegedly laundered and parked there. Puri is also under the agency’s scanner for his alleged involvement in an air force deal during the UPA regime to purchase helicopters from AgustaWestland.

Puri, along with his parents Deepak and Nita Puri and others, was booked by the CBI on August 17 on a complaint from Central Bank of India. In its complaint, the bank told the CBI that Moser Baer owed money to 13 other banks as well, including State Bank of Patiala, Central Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

The complaint states that multiple loans were given to the company from 2009 and a restructuring plan was approved in 2012 by a consortium of lenders led by Central Bank of India. The company was declared a non-performing asset in November 2014 as per the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India, with an outstanding amount of Rs 354.51 crore.

According to the CBI’s FIR, a forensic audit conducted by GSA & Associates brought out “fraudulent practices” adopted by the company.

The bank alleged that the sale proceeds of business generated by Moser Baer were not deposited with the consortium banks and instead were siphoned off.