NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 4,109 crore spread across multiple states in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Ponzi schemethe agency said Thursday.
The case concerns the Agri Gold Group of Companies. Three promoters of the group were detained 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 (ED ) in a statement Thursday.
Assets provisionally seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are located in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
The defendant may appeal against the ED order to the PMLA Adjudicating Authority within six months.
The ED launched an investigation into the matter after going through several police FIRs filed against the defendants in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka for allegedly misleading more than 32 lakh investors after funds amounting to Rs 6,380 were raised. 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 Department of Education.
The agency launched the investigation against the defendants after going through several police FIRs filed against them in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
Investors from Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chhattisgarh were also duped through the Ponzi scheme, he had said.
“The scam was perpetrated by Avva Venkata Rama Rao through Agri Gold Group of Companies. He had previously worked on the Golden Forest CIS (collective investment scheme) fraud and, having learned the tricks of the trade in that scheme, had hatched a well planned conspiracy.
“He, along with his seven brothers and associates, established more than 150 companies and began collecting deposits from the general public with the promise of providing developed parcels / agricultural land or withdrawing them with a high rate of return to maturity / pre-term, “the agency had said.
It alleged that the defendant “hired” thousands of commission agents to attract people with various schemes in exchange for a hefty commission and managed to raise Rs 6,380 million out of a total of 32,02,628 investor accounts.
“In the end, gullible investors were unable to obtain parcels and were unable to recover their deposits. The group illegally collected deposits from all over the country,” the ED alleged.
The agency said Agri Gold Group of Companies “did not obtain permission from the RBI to collect such deposits.”
“SEBI reported that Agri Gold Farm Estates India Private Limited’s business (a group company) was nothing more than a CIS and ordered the company to stop taking any more deposits and return the money to depositors.
“Instead of complying with Sebi’s instructions in letter and spirit, the defendant Avva Venkata Rama Rao started new companies and began collecting deposits on behalf of the new companies under the pretext of the real estate business with the help of an army of commission agents. “he claimed.
The ED said its investigation found that the defendants “never developed enough land to give parcels to all investors.”
He had said that Avva Venkata Rama Rao and his family embarked on a “diversion spree”, illegally diverting public deposits and invested in a myriad of verticals and private companies, which were directly owned by his family.
The agency had said that the defendants “also established companies abroad” and diverted large amounts of funds to offshore entities.
.
