The Enforcement Directorate has attached properties worth Rs 4,109 million.
Hyderabad:
The Enforcement Directorate has attached 4,109 crore in properties spread across multiple states in a money laundering case linked to an alleged ponzi scam that duped some 32 lakh people out of more than 6 billion rupees, the agency said Thursday. .
The case involves the Agri Gold Group of Companies, whose three promoters were arrested by the central agency on Tuesday.
“The attached assets include 2,809 real estate, the Haailand amusement park on behalf of Arka Leisure and Entertainments Private Limited in Andhra Pradesh (spread over 48 acres) and shares of various companies, plants and machinery,” said the Enforcement Directorate in a release.
Assets provisionally seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA are located in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
The Directorate of Enforcement, which investigates financial crimes, had launched an investigation after going through several police cases brought against the defendants in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka for allegedly misleading some 32 lakh investors after funds for value were raised. of Rs 6,380 crore.
The main defendants are Avva Venkata Rama Rao, Avva Venkata S Narayana Rao and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad, the promoters of the Agri Gold Group of Companies who have been arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement.
According to the agency, Avva Venkata Rama Rao planned the scam and, together with his seven brothers and other associates, established more than 150 companies and began collecting deposits from the general public, promising to develop plots and farmland or make massive profits.
“Thousands of brokers were hired to attract people with various schemes for a hefty commission and managed to raise Rs 6,380 crore from more than 32 lakh from investor accounts. Subsequently, however, investors were not able to obtain plots and were unable to recover their deposits. the agency said.
They claimed that Avva Venkata Rama Rao and her family continued to divert funds and illegally divert public deposits and invested in companies directly owned by her family.
Their names were also featured in the 2017 Paradise papers leak and they had incorporated companies with the help of the infamous Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in the Cayman Islands.
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