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New Delhi [India], April 22 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint before the Rouse Avenue court against Sachin Dev Duggal, a citizen and resident of the United Kingdom, as accused, in a money laundering case against VN Dhoot and 12 others.
Supplementary charge sheet has been filed in the court of Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh on Wednesday.
The court has already taken cognisance of the Prosecution complaint (Charge sheet) against VN Dhoot and 12 others on February 10. The ED had registered a case on December 18, 2024.
ED had initiated investigation on the basis of CBI FIR of 23.06.2020, alleging that Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Limited (VHHL), a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary of Videocon Industries Limited (VIL), availed a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) facility of USD 2,773.60 million from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India ostensibly for development of overseas oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil and Indonesia.
The ED said that the investigations revealed systematic diversion of these funds, totalling approximately USD 2.03 billion, by the Videocon Group promoters, layered through a complex web of overseas entities.
Investigation has also revealed that Sachin Dev Duggal, Chairman of Swiss company nHoldings SA and beneficial owner of Indian tech firms Nivio Technologies and Engineer. "Al was the key beneficiary of a calculated scheme through which funds from Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) were siphoned and laundered through a chain of overseas entities."
It is said that the scheme began in 2008, when VIL started advancing interest-free loans totalling Rs 17.32 Crore to Duggal-controlled Nivio Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., without even a formal loan agreement, the ED said.
The central agency also said that A loan agreement was hurriedly signed on May 24, 2011, and the very next day, an overseas Videocon entity invested CHF 37.9 Lakh in Duggal's Swiss company nHoldings SA at a heavily inflated valuation, despite the company being loss-making.
It is alleged that between 2011 and 2014, Videocon routed USD 37.07 Lakh (Rs 20.12 Crore) to nHoldings SA and directly to Sachin Dev Duggal personally through a deliberate five-entity overseas chain.
Financial records of Nivio Technologies India Private Limited show that during FY 2011-12, the company received Rs 35 crore from nHoldings SA, Duggal's Swiss company. This was the exact same period when Videocon Group was transferring money into nHoldings SA, the ED said.
During the same year, the ownership structure of Nivio Technologies was also changed, nHoldings SA was made the ultimate parent company of Nivio Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., and Nivio Cloud Computing India Pvt. Ltd. was placed as an intermediate entity holding shares in Nivio Technologies, the ED said.
Through this reorganisation, Duggal ensured that all companies, both in India and abroad, remained under his direct control. However, the end use of these funds is still unexplained. As per the financial statement of nHoldings SA for the year ending on March 31, 2013, the investments in Nivio were fully written off, the ED stated in a press release issued on April 22.
It is also said that despite multiple summonses issued under Section 50 of PMLA (from January 2022 onwards), Sachin Dev Duggal failed to appear before the ED and provided only partial, evasive documentary submissions by email, the ED further said. (ANI)