Lankan, woman held for Rs 30 crore swindle from firm of ex-min’s son

Economics Offences Wing (EOW) police have arrested a Sri Lankan and a woman for allegedly pilfering Rs 30 crore from a private financing firm run by Anto Stalin, son of former state minister Lawrence, by diverting funds to 116 shell companies floated by them. Police had arrested another suspect two months ago.

The arrested were identified as Sudhakar, a native of Lanka and Premasudha. The sleuths had earlier arrested Ramesh, who was working as a senior executive of the finance firm belonging to Anto Stalin. Ramesh and Premasudha are in a live-in relationship.

After joining the firm in 2012, Ramesh connived with the other two, created 116 shell companies and availed credit from Anto Stalin’s firm. These firms were initially paying interest, but in 2018, Anto, while going through the accounts, found that nearly Rs 30 crore had vanished from the company funds. A detailed internal inquiry revealed that funds were diverted as loans to 116 companies, started in the names of those known to the three accused.

Following this, Anto lodged a complaint with the EOW and a subsequent probe found that the three had swindled the money.

The sleuths had earlier arrested Ramesh, who was working as a financial broker before he joined Anto and the other two were nabbed on Wednesday. Police are also probing where the swindled money has been diverted to and are checking the background of the Sri Lankan.