New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it has attached 27 immovable properties of Nimmagadda Ramakrishna, Nimmagadda Venugopal, VVNK Viswanath, their family members and associates with a current market value of Rs 33.39 crore in a pisciculture bank loan fraud case.

The ED in a statement said that the agency has attached the properties of these people under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED said that the attached assets, located in and around Hyderabad and Vijayawada, belong to accused Ramakrishna, Venugopal, Viswanath and their family members or associates.

The ED registered a case under the PMLA based on an FIR of the CBI against Ramakrishna, Managing Director of Venus Aqua Foods Limited and other Directors of the company for defrauding Union Bank of India (erstwhile Andhra Bank), Gudivada branch to the tune of Rs 36.97 crore.

"Investigation revealed that Venus Aqua Foods Limited had availed Rs 19.44 crore fish tank loans from Union Bank of India by furnishing forged and fabricated documents including fake lease documents for 470 acres of fish farms," the ED said.

It said the loan funds were diverted and not repaid causing a loss of Rs 36.97 crore.

"Investigation further revealed that the accused also availed fish tank loans in the name of 54 individuals including themselves, their family members, their friends or relatives or associates and their family members to the tune of Rs 22.64 crore," the ED said.

The ED said that these loans were taken on the pretext of pisciculture, but instead the money was siphoned off and diverted to the main accused, who in turn used this money to introduce share capital in VAFL which helped the company to borrow more, it said.

The ED alleged that part of the loan funds were also used to acquire immovable properties in the names of Ramakrishna, Venugopal, Viswanath, their family members and associates.

THe ED claimed that an amount of Rs 1.72 crore was diverted to the production of a Telugu movie "AakasameHaddu".

All the loans have become NPA.