Mumbai

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches in Maharashtra and Delhi as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities related to a corporate insolvency resolution process, officials said.

They said a total of 17 locations related to Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (SARCL), Suraksha Realty Ltd, Khyati Realtors Pvt Ltd, their promoters, directors and employees, along with a former YES Bank employee, were searched in Mumbai, Khandala (Maharashtra) and Delhi.

The companies could not be contacted immediately for a comment on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) action.

The probe pertains to the alleged fraudulent grant of a loan by YES Bank originally to a company named Mackstar Marketing Pvt Ltd, apart from some other loans taken in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years, according to ED officials.

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The raids aim to unearth evidence to prove charges of collusion among ARCs (asset reconstruction companies) by engaging in "circular" transactions leading to "fraudulent" takeover of stressed assets, under-valuation of auctioned assets, inflated and fraudulent claims, violation of creditor voting rights in the National Company Law Tribunal and the overall lack of transparency in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, officials said.