ED Seizes Luxury BMWs, Mercedes and Land Rovers in Major SBI Car Loan Fraud Investigation

Cars including BMW, Volvo, Mercedes and Land Rover, were seized during raids as they were purchased by borrowers using fabricated documentation.

The Enforcement Directorate conducted an extensive operation against a vehicle loan fraud scheme at State Bank of India, executing searches across 12 residential and commercial properties belonging to loan borrowers and automobile dealers in Pune, resulting in the seizure of critical evidence, an official confirmed on Friday.

ED's investigation uncovered that the accused borrowers had obtained high-value automobile loans through forged documentation, deliberately defrauding the bank.

The Mumbai Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate executed search operations on November 25-26 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

These searches also targeted Amar Kulkarni, who previously served as branch manager at SBI.

The search operations led to the identification of various immovable assets acquired by the loan borrowers, incriminating documentation, and the confiscation of numerous luxury vehicles from their premises under Section 17 of the PMLA, 2002.

The ED initiated this investigation based on FIRs filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, ACB, Pune and Shivajinagar Police Station, Pune, invoking various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Allegations indicate that Kulkarni, while holding the position of Chief Manager at SBI's University Road Branch in Pune from 2017 to 2019, misused his official authority and engaged in criminal conspiracy with Aditya Sethia, an Auto Loan Counsellor at SBI, alongside certain borrowers, to defraud SBI through the fraudulent processing and recommendation of high-value automobile loans.

According to the ED, public servant Amar Kulkarni, in furtherance of this conspiracy, improperly and dishonestly processed and advocated for high-value car loan proposals from the accused borrowers, violating the bank's lending policies without verifying the fraudulent documentation.

In numerous loan cases, falsified quotations with inflated amounts were presented to the bank to increase the margin money incorporated in the loan, and these loans were approved using counterfeit documents, the ED stated.

During the investigation and subsequent search proceedings, it was discovered that various luxury vehicles, including BMW, Volvo, Mercedes and Land Rover, were acquired by borrowers using fraudulent documentation in collusion with both the loan agent and the branch manager of SBI.