(Image source from: ED attaches Rs 1)

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday has issued an order for the attachment of a foreign property of Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd worth Rs 1,000 crore. Zoom Developers is one of the top defaulters with banks and it owes around Rs 3,002 crore to 26 public sector banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, United Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce etc.

The ED order pertains to the attachment of a 1,208-acre property of Zoom Developers in Soledad, California. The agency had found that the company has diverted $40 million of bank loans in 2007 to invest in the property in partnership with a Philippines-based entity. This is for the first time an Indian agency attaching a property of a defaulter in a foreign country.

“The ED will now issue a Letter Rogatory (LR) to US for enforcement of the attachment order,” said an ED official. "Several banks were hit hard by the company, the total loan taken was about Rs 2,200 crore for carrying out various projects in the European countries. However, no work was done and the money was siphoned off," a senior ED official said.

The fraud was allegedly done by Zoom Developers and its promoter Chaudhary, who is an absconder.

By Premji