Hyderabad: The ED filed prosecution complaints against Mussadilal Jewellers for money-laundering, including MBS Jewellers director Sukesh Gupta, Anurag Gupta, Karri Ravi Prasad and Valluri Mohan Rao, in a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.The case originated from an FIR registered by ACB against Sukesh Gupta and his companies for allegedly defrauding MMTC Limited (Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India), of Rs.504.34 crore.ED investigation revealed that Sukesh Gupta, through MBS Jewellers, received gold bullion from MMTC Limited on buyers credit loan, by keeping the forex position open without paying the additional 5 per cent margin money. Through that, MMTC Limited suffered a loss of Rs.549.06 crore.The ED placed Sukesh Gupta as the mastermind of the scam, and said he had conspired with others and cheated MMTC. Despite the huge payables to MMTC, the business of MBS Jewellers went on uninterrupted, and it utilised the gold for its business ventures. Sukesh Gupta’s companies were not supposed to receive any further gold from MMTC until it squared off the older dues. Instead of clearing the dues and giving fresh adequate forex cover, Sukesh Gupta colluded with officers of MMTC Hyderabad & others and painted a wrong picture of his accounts and kept on lifting more gold to carry on his business.The ED conducted search operations at Sukesh’s residence and business offices in October 2018, July 2019 and October 2022. During the searches, ED seized jewellery worth Rs.149.1 crore and Rs.1.96 crore cash. Furthermore, properties worth Rs.363.5 crore belonging to Sukesh Gupta and related entities were attached by ED under a provisional attachment order.
Source link
