Kolkata, Mar 16 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case in connection with an alleged scam of over Rs 173 crore in the United Bank of India (UBI) in 2016, an official said on Thursday.

"A case has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for the alleged fraud over Rs 173 crore in UBI," an ED official said.

The case is related to an FIR filed by the West Bengal CID in July 2016, he said.

Acting on a complaint, by National Small Industries Corporation, against 23 people including S.K. Halder, a former employee of the corporation, and few bank employees for submitting fake bank guarantees to avail raw material assistance scheme of the Corporation, the state CID had filed a criminal case against the accused.

The CID had arrested three senior employees of the Kolkata-headquartered bank in this case in June last year.

The central investigating agency would now probe whether the funds generated from "fraudulent transactions" were laundered or deployed for creating any other assets.