SEPTEMBER 06, 2017
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has concluded that the Bulgarian firm which “inexplicably” transferred ₹60 crore to the bank account of a suspected fly-by-night operator in Kerala in September 2016 was a fictitious one. Highly placed ED investigators said repeated e-mails to the foreign company had bounced.
A letter sent to the firm’s office in Bulgaria has returned stating that no such address existed. No one has so far represented the firm before the agency’s adjudicators though the Bulgarian Embassy had requested the immediate return of money that had been seized under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Investigators said the fraud unearthed so far was only the tip of the ice berg. The suspicious transaction could be part of an international professional money laundering operation to help the Bulgarian mafia clean the proceeds from the narcotic trade, illegal sale of stolen antiques and human trafficking.