Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate has initiated a drive to return lost funds to nearly six crore investors affected by Rs 50,000 crore Pearl Group ponzi scam.
The agency said it has shared details of Rs 700 crore worth of attached assets of Pearl Agro Group with Justice Lodha Committee, the panel appointed by Supreme Court to administer disposal of confiscated assets and restitution of funds to the victims.
Sebi had earlier banned Pearl Group for “illegally collecting Rs 49,100 crore from 59 million investors over 18 years”. Investigation began a decade ago when CBI first registered an FIR in Feb 2014.
ED’s probe revealed promoters of Pearl Group floated a ponzi scheme where they promised allotment of plots to investors. However, instead of delivering returns , the promoters siphoned off funds to shell entities registered in Kolkata. The money was then withdrawn in cash from these companies and sent to Dubai, using hawala channels. These funds were then invested in several countries to buy hotels and resorts.
The money trail revealed a large investment was made in Australia in buying properties. In 2018, after successfully linking the ‘proceeds of crime’ to PACL and its promoter Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, ED attached two properties in Australia worth Rs 462 crore. Four years later, further Rs 244 crore worth of assets were attached in India linked to the group entities and associates of Bhangoo.
The value of these assets, some held as financial instruments, may exceed over Rs 1,000 crore now. The probe is still in progress and last week the agency carried out searches at 44 locations across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telengana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, trailing the ‘proceeds of crime’.
As reported by TOI, ED has already started restitution of flats – 78 in the first lot worth more than Rs 20 crore – to homebuyers of SRS Group’s projects SRS Pearl, SRS City, SRS Prime in Gurugram.
