The directorate of enforcement (ED) has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint before the special PMLA (prevention of Money Laundering Act) Court in New Delhi in connection with an alleged Rs34,000-crore bank fraud involving the Amtek group of companies, its promoter Arvind Dham, family members, chartered accountants (CAs), bankers, resolution professionals (RPs) and stock market operators.
The complaint, filed on 1 August 2025, stems from investigations ordered by the Supreme Court in February 2024 while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) over alleged large-scale loan diversion by the group. ED’s probe followed the central bureau of investigation (CBI) first information reports (FIRs) registered on complaints from IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to ED, the Amtek group fraudulently obtained and diverted loans, mostly from public sector banks, by inflating fixed assets in audit reports, suppressing evidence of misappropriation and securing loan sanctions through undue benefits. Bankers allegedly 'evergreened' loans in violation of RBI norms, leading to ballooning NPAs when repayments inevitably defaulted.
The agency says its investigation uncovered a Rs1,000-crore loss to foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in Castex Technologies, one of the group’s companies. Mumbai-based stock operators allegedly rigged share prices using funds siphoned from bank loans.
Fifteen group companies were dragged to the national company law tribunal (NCLT) by creditors and resolved with an average haircut of 81%, meaning lenders recovered only 19% of their claims. The ED alleges that, before insolvency proceedings began, the promoters had alienated assets through undervalued transfers to front entities and benami owners to keep them out of NCLT’s reach.
Personal insolvency proceedings against Mr Dham revealed claims exceeding Rs38,000 crore from 23 creditors, against which he offered only Rs35 crore. The probe also identified about 500 shell companies used to acquire and hold assets worth over Rs6,000 crore through multiple layers, with the promoters as ultimate beneficiaries.
ED has attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs6,261.37 crore, most valued at book or circle rates, with actual market value believed to be significantly higher. These include assets not charged to any defrauded lender. The attachments followed earlier searches at over 40 locations and the arrest of Mr Dham in September 2024.
The supplementary complaint covers the roles of promoters, key managerial staff, auditors, bankers, resolution professionals, and stock market operators in what the agency describes as a complex, multi-layered fraud and money-laundering operation.
Earlier in February 2022, while seeking to recover Rs2,320.45 crore from former promoters of Amtek Auto, the Union ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) asked the serious fraud and investigations office (SFIO) to investigate the books and dealings of the company.
In its plea, MCA says, "...the CWIP balance, which was at a whopping sum of Rs740.35 crore at the beginning of the review period, has drastically dropped to Rs21.41 crore at the end of the review period, due to transfer of this balance to fixed assets. The transaction auditor has observed that Rs2,282.92 crore were transferred from CWIP to fixed assets during the review period, out of which Rs1045.38 crore was transferred on the date of commencement of insolvency proceedings. These observations, prima facie, infer that the company has shown its fixed assets at an inflated value in its books of accounts to defraud its creditors, not by acquiring any tangible assets but merely by showing such a transfer of balance in its ledger. Further, transfer of an exorbitant amount of WIP balance of Rs1,045.38 crore on the date of commencement of insolvency proceedings itself infers that the company along with its directors and key management persons (KMPs) intended to get rid of the insolvency proceedings and such manipulations in the books of accounts were executed to avoid the insolvency proceedings." (
Read: Amtek Auto: MCA Seeks Rs2,320.45 Crore from Former Promoters; Asks NCLT for Forensic Audit by SFIO)
In September 2021, the Mumbai bench of NCLT had ordered the freezing of assets, including bank accounts and lockers, owned by former promoters of Metalyst, a listed subsidiary of Amtek Auto Ltd. Amtek Auto holds a 54.24% stake in Metalyst Forging. The MCA had filed an application seeking recovery of over Rs3,454 crore in financial fraud from promoter Mr Dham, chief financial officer (CFO) Arun Kumar Maiti and Sanjiv Bhasin of Metalyst Forging.
Noting that the Union government has taken an initiative to curtail the acts of preferential and fraudulent transactions in the best possible manner and in public interest, against the respondents' contention, the bench of acting president Bhaskara Pantula Mohan and member Narender Kumar Bhola had said, "…the provisions of section 242(2)(m) of the Companies Act are independent and have wide import as evident from IL&FS orders passed by this bench and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)." (
Read: Metalyst Forging: To Recover Rs3,454 Crore NCLT Asks Freezing of Ex-Promoters' Assets)
