ED attaches UK-based high-value property located near Buckingham Palace in Rs 1,400 crore bank fraud case

New Delhi [India], December 31 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a United Kingdom-based high-value property located near Buckingham Palace in a Rs 1,400 crore bank fraud case, the agency said on Wednesday.
The property, valued at approximately Rs 150 crore, is being held under the beneficial ownership of businessman Nitin Shambhukumar Kasliwal and his family members. Kasliwal, former Chairman and Managing Director of S Kumars Nationwide Limited, is accused of defrauding a consortium of Indian banks by Rs 1,400 crore, according to multiple First Information Reports.
ED's Indore sub-zonal office issued the Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on December 30, 2025, to attach the high-value property.
The move comes a week after the ED, during the course of investigation, conducted searches under section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on December 23 and seized various incriminating records along with digital devices in the case.
Officials in the ED said a detailed analysis of the seized material revealed that "Kasliwal had established a complex network of trusts and companies in multiple offshore tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Jersey, and Switzerland."
"The investigation uncovered that Nitin Kasliwal had set up a trust named Catherine Trust (formerly Surya Trust), in which he and his family members were the primary beneficiaries. This trust controlled a company based in Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, 'Catherine Property Holding Limited (CPHL)', which in turn held ownership of the said high-value immovable property in London," the agency said in a statement.
During the course of investigation, ED has found that "Kasliwal, through S Kumars Nationwide Limited, cheated the consortium of banks to the tune of Rs. 1400 crore and also diverted the funds outside India in the guise of foreign investments and thereafter acquired immovable assets outside India which were concealed through a complex structure of private trust and companies in foreign jurisdictions." (ANI)