Rs. 1226.63 SBI Bank Fraud: ED Attaches Nine Dubai Properties of AOPL Director gifted to his Daughter

The Enforcement Directorate ( ED ) has provisionally attached nine high-end immovable properties in Dubai valued at ₹51.70 crore related to the huge ₹1266.63-crore SBI bank fraud involving M/s Advantage Overseas Private Limited (AOPL) and its key director, Shrikant Bhasi.

“These properties were later deliberately gifted to his daughter through gift deeds executed in 2022-2023, without any consideration to hide the POC”, said ED. The attachment was executed on 17 November 2025 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to the ED, the attached foreign assets, comprising luxury apartments and commercial spaces are located in some of Dubai’s most important real estate zones, including Centurion Residence (Dubai Investment Park Second), Dubai Silicon Oasis, Liwa Heights (Al Thanyah Fifth), Business Bay, and World Trade Centre Residences.

Complete Supreme Court Judgment on GST from 2017 to 2024 with Free E-Book Access, Click here

These properties were traced to illicit funds generated through orchestrated fraudulent activities conducted by AOPL and its group entities. The investigations revealed that Shrikant Bhasi exercised strategic and beneficial control over AOPL and its related companies.

The ED found that Bhasi had acquired these Dubai properties using Proceeds of Crime (POC) derived from multiple financial irregularities, including illegal merchanting trade transactions, diversion of bank funds, fabrication of documents, circular trading, and layering of illicit proceeds.

All these property attachments are linked to a major bank fraud that caused a loss of ₹1266.63 crore to SBI’s Shahpura Branch. Between April and May 2018, 12 Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) worth USD 200 million fell on SBI to pay because AOPL did not keep the required margin money and failed to make payments when the LCs were renewed.

The depletion of fixed-deposit margins and the company's inability to honour payment obligations forced SBI to settle dues with overseas suppliers, triggering massive losses to the public sector lender.

The ED further uncovered a network of domestic and offshore entities allegedly used by AOPL to layer, divert, route and launder funds emanating from the devolved LCs. These multi-jurisdictional transactions, the agency said, were used to acquire assets both in India and abroad, including the Dubai properties now attached by the agency.

Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates