"ED has frozen over 87 lakh shares of Balasore Alloys Ltd with market value of Rs. 62 crore as on May 3, held by Mittal, Global Steel Holding Limited (GSHL) and associated companies," an Enforcement Directorate statement said.
The action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) "in case of defrauding the STC", it said.
The statement said Mittal and GSHL had claimed that they owned only 39,730 shares in Balasore Alloys Ltd.
"But during the search of Balasore Alloys, it was found that Mittal and Global Steel Holdings through its subsidiary or associate companies were indirectly holding 87,47,285 shares of Balasore having face value Rs 4.37 crore and market value of Rs 62.1 crore," the agency said.
The probe agency took up the case of money laundering against Mittal on the basis of a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI on March 16 this year registered a case against Mittal alleging "criminal breach of trust" as he failed to make payments as per terms and conditions of the agreement with STC.
According to the complaint from the STC, GSHL sought financing facility from it for purchase of raw material for their Philippines-based steel plants on cash and carry basis.
The raw material was supplied despite payments not being made as per the agreement, whereby goods had to be lifted only upon payments to the STC, amounting to a default amount of over Rs 2,000 crore.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.