The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen the bank accounts and confiscated property documents belonging to Abdurahiman Chenoth Thirummal, a businessman accused of defrauding multiple banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of approximately Rs 340 crore. The ED initiated a probe following the filing of an FIR by the Chandera Police in Kasaragod of Kerala.
According to this FIR filed by the Chandera police, Abdurahiman – a resident of Mettammal village in Kasaragod’s Trikaripur gram panchayat – had taken a business loan of 68.159 million Arab Emirates dirhams (AED) from the Invest Bank in Sharjah for development of his enterprise named Hexa Oil & Gas Services LLC.
The bank disbursed the funds in two instalments, one in October 2017 and the other in January 2018. Although he made partial repayments, Abdurahiman still had an outstanding debt of 42.898 million dirhams or Rs 83.36 crore to the bank. In February 2021, a representative from Invest Bank lodged a cheating complaint (under Section 420 of the IPC) against Abdurahiman with the Chandera Police.
In 2022, Shamsheer Sam, a 38-year-old Mogral Puthur gram panchayat resident in Kasaragod, filed a complaint with the Chandera Police. He alleged that Abdurahiman compelled him to take a personal loan of 340,000 dirhams (approximately Rs 77.24 lakh) but failed to repay the borrowed amount.
Kerala police had closed the case
According to reports, a police official from Chandera said that Abdurahiman sought relief from the High Court of Kerala and successfully obtained a stay on the police investigation in the initial case involving the alleged cheating of Invest Bank. He further informed that
regarding Shamsheer Sam’s case, the police investigation uncovered inconsistencies between the statement provided to the court by Shamsher Sam and the one given at the police station. Consequently, the police submitted a report to the court reflecting these disparities, leading to the closure of the case.
Enforcement Directorate reopened the case
However, the Kochi office of the Enforcement Directorate traced the leads from the initial FIR lodged at the Chandera Police Station. On Thursday (7th December), the ED carried out search operations at eight locations linked to Abdurahiman, his wife Zareena Majeed, and their associates in Kochi, Kozhikode, and Kasaragod.
While the initial complaint cited a sum of 42.898 million dirhams (Rs 83.36 crore), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that its investigation uncovered Abdurahiman’s acquisition of loans amounting to approximately 150 million dirhams (around Rs 340 crore) from various banks, including Invest Bank.
ED said in its statement, “He is suspected to have diverted funds withdrawn in cash through hawala channels and invested the same in multiple companies in the fields of construction, media, chemical industry and information technology. Our searches have revealed the modus operandi of this large-scale cross-border offence of money laundering.”
ED said that Abdurahiman engaged in fraudulent activities by deceiving foreign banks, misappropriating funds intended for business ventures, and diverting them for his gain. The agency also informed that several incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized during the raids. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has directed the freezing of Rs 3.58 crore in the bank accounts of Abdurahiman and other implicated individuals in the case. Additionally, it has confiscated the documents of his real estate holdings and shares in affiliated companies.
