ED seizes 430 kg gold, silver worth Rs 47 crore after searches at private lockers in Mumbai

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday seized gold and silver worth over Rs 47 crore after searching private lockers of a bullion company in Mumbai.

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday seized gold and silver worth over Rs 47 crore after conducting searches of the private lockers of a bullion company as part of a money laundering probe.

The officials searched 761 private lockers. 91.5 kg of gold and 152 kg of silver was recovered from two lockers. From another premises, the ED recovered 188 kg of silver.

The searches by the financial probe agency were conducted on four premises of Raksha Bullion and Classic Marbles in connection with a money laundering probe against Parekh Aluminex Limited.

Parekh Aluminex Limited has been investigated since March 2018 for duping banks to the tune of Rs 2296.58 crore.

“The said money was thereafter siphoned off by layering through various companies. The money was routed to various accounts in the context of providing unsecured loans and investments. The same was not the purpose of taking the loans and there were no agreements in place for such transactions,” the ED said.

During the course of the search, the ED found keys to private lockers from the premises of Raksha Bullion. On searching the private lockers, it was found that the locker operation was being done without following the proper norms. No KYC was followed and there was no CCTV camera installed on the premises.

“There was no in and out register. Searching the lockers revealed that there were 761 lockers, of which 3 belonged to Raksha Bullion. On searching the lockers, 91.5 kg of gold and 152 kg of silver was found in two lockers and the same was seized. An additional 188 kg of silver was also seized from the premises of Raksha Bullion. Total value of seized items is Rs 47.76 crore,” added the ED in its statement.