ED arrests VMC Systems MD Hima Bindu in Rs 3,300 cr bank fraud case (Lead)

New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested telephone equipment manufacturer VMC Systems Ltd (VMCSL) Vuppalapati Hima Bindu in a Rs 3,316 crore bank fraud case.An ED official said that it has arrested Bindu under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after the financial probe agency initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI against the company.He said that VMCSL had taken loans from a consortium of banks and the present dues outstanding to all the banks is Rs 3,316 crore.The ED claimed that the forensic audit revealed that the VMCSL circulated loans to various related entities to inflate its books of accounts.”Forensic audit also revealed that the PISL, a related entity, was given three per cent commission amount by the VMCSL for all receipts from the BSNL without any specific role of the PISL in BSNL tenders,” the official said.The official also said that forensic audit further revealed that the VMCSL had opened various Letters of Credit (LCs) worth Rs 692 crore in the name of fake or dummy entities which were subsequently devolved.”Bindu, through her company VMCSL, and with the active assistance of her brother V. Satish, MD of the PISL, in order to dodge the banks, created false or exaggerated operational revenues by generating fake sales or purchase invoices through the companies controlled by their directors or family members,” he said.The offificial said that Bindu siphoned off a part of proceeds of crime by remitting it to the overseas entities controlled by her family members.On July 20, the ED conducted searches on the residential premises of Bindu, Satish and V. Madhavi and incriminating documents and digital data in form of 40 external hard discs, six mobiles, and two laptops have been recovered.The prime accused was not responding to the ED summons, not supplying the documents of her companies and transactions on one pretext or the other and blatantly lying regarding their foreign transactions, the official said.Bindu was produced before the PMLA Special Court and it sent her to judicial custody till August 18.–IANSaks/vd