ED names UK-based entrepreneur in multi-crore Videocon money laundering probe

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a supplementary charge sheet before a Special Court (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in the national capital against Sachin Dev Duggal, a United Kingdom resident, for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Videocon money laundering case, officials said on Wednesday.

The complaint has been filed in continuation of the original charge sheet submitted on December 18, 2024, against Venugopal Dhoot and 12 others. The Special PMLA Court had taken cognisance of the matter on February 10 this year.

The ED launched its investigation based on a CBI FIR registered on June 23, 2020, which alleged that Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Limited (VHHL), a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Videocon Industries Limited (VIL), had availed a standby letter of credit facility worth $2,773.60 million from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India, purportedly for the development of overseas oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil, and Indonesia.

The investigation allegedly uncovered a systematic diversion of these funds, amounting to nearly $2.03 billion, by Videocon Group promoters through a complex network of overseas entities.

“Sachin Dev Duggal, chairman of Swiss firm nHoldings SA and beneficial owner of Indian technology firms Nivio Technologies and Engineer.AI, was a key beneficiary of an alleged scheme through which funds from Videocon Industries were siphoned off and laundered through multiple overseas entities,” the ED said.

The agency alleged that the scheme began in 2008 when VIL started extending interest-free loans amounting to Rs 17.32 crore to Duggal-controlled Nivio Technologies India Pvt Ltd without a formal loan agreement.

A loan agreement was allegedly signed hurriedly on May 24, 2011, and the following day, an overseas Videocon entity invested CHF 37.9 lakh in Duggal’s Swiss company nHoldings SA at what the ED described as an inflated valuation despite the company being loss-making. Between 2011 and 2014, Videocon allegedly routed $37.07 lakh (around Rs 20.12 crore) to nHoldings SA and directly to Sachin Dev Duggal through a deliberate five-entity overseas chain.

Financial records of Nivio Technologies India Pvt Ltd show that during the financial year 2011-12, the company received Rs 35 crore from nHoldings SA during the same period when the Videocon Group was allegedly transferring funds to the Swiss entity. During the same year, the ownership structure of Nivio Technologies was altered.

Dugga’s nHoldings SA became the ultimate parent company of Nivio Technologies India Pvt Ltd, while Nivio Cloud Computing India Pvt Ltd was placed as an intermediate holding company. The ED alleged that through this restructuring, Duggal ensured that all entities in India and abroad remained under his direct control.

However, the end use of these funds remains unexplained. As per the financial statement of nHoldings SA for the year ending March 31, 2013, the investments in Nivio were fully written off.

Despite multiple summonses issued under Section 50 of the PMLA since January 2022, the ED said Duggal failed to appear before the agency and only submitted partial and allegedly evasive documents through email.

IANS