THE Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) city-based Sub-Zonal Office has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 503.16 crore belonging to industrialist Manoj Jayaswal, his power company, Corporate Power Limited, and its other promoters in a high-profile bank fraud case. The assets, including properties, buildings, bank balances, mutual funds, and shares, were recovered from various locations across Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Andhra Pradesh as part of the probe into Corporate Power Limited and its directors: Manoj Jayaswal, Abhijeet Jayaswal, Abhishek Jayaswal, and others. According to the ED, these properties and buildings were acquired under the names of multiple shell companies, as well as in the names of Manoj Jayaswal, his company, and family members.

 

The ED investigation stems from an FIR of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed against Corporate Power Limited and its owners on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery, following a complaint by Union Bank of India. It is alleged that the accused submitted manipulated project cost statements to obtain loans and misappropriated bank funds, causing a wrongful loss estimated at Rs 4,037 crore (Rs 11,379 crore including interest). Earlier in this case, the ED conducted searches in Nagpur, Kolkata, and Visakhapatnam, seizing various documents and freezing proceeds of crime--totalling Rs 223.33 crore in listed shares and securities, mutual funds, fixed deposits, and bank balances. Cash amounting to Rs 55.85 lakh was also seized.