The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mumbai has provisionally attached 30 overseas assets in connection with the Rs 4,500 crore Pancard club investment fraud, the agency said on Thursday.
The attached assets, of which 22 are in Thailand, six in UAE and two in USA, are held in the name of overseas subsidiaries of M/s Panoramic Universal Ltd, Mumbai (PUL) and accused (late) Sudhir Moravekar.
ED said that these assets were acquired by making total payments equivalent to Rs 54.32 crore during the period from 2002 to 2015. ED’s action is based on the criminal case Mumbai police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had filed. While the said properties are located in a foreign country, following due procedure ED through the Indian government can send a request under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to concerned countries for further recovery of proceeds of the crime.
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As per Mumbai police’s case, during the period from the year 1997 to 2017, M/s Pan Card Limited (PCL) unauthorisedly collected investments from around 50 lakh investors across India and failed to return more than Rs 5,000 crore to many of these investors.
After thorough investigation, EOW filed a chargesheet against M/s PCL, PUL and other 44 related companies, 6 Directors of M/s PCL and 5 marketing representatives of M/s PCL under various sections of IPC, 1860 and Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act,1999.
When the ED commenced their money laundering investigation, they found that Pancard Clubs Ltd. and its directors floated various investment schemes of different durations ranging from 3 to 9 years, with a promise of hotel discounting, accidental insurance and other benefits including high rate of returns against the deposits made by the public, ignoring prevailing norms of SEBI or Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
ED also found Proceeds of Crime (POC) amounting to around Rs 99 crore were diverted from PCL to PUL apart from diversion of POC, to the personal accounts of family members of deceased accused Sudhir Moravekar, the agency stated in a statement on Thursday.
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The agency added that their probe also revealed that during the year 2002, a hotel in New Zealand was bought through Overseas Direct Investments (ODI) by PUL. The asset was sold later and the wholly-owned subsidiary in New Zealand was closed without duly reporting to RBI/Bank.
Besides this, ODI investments were also made in the USA, UAE, Thailand, Singapore and remittances equivalent to approximately Rs 100 crore were sent during the period from 2002 to 2014. Assets were acquired in the name of these overseas subsidiary entities.
It is also revealed that both the sons of late Sudhir Moravekar were planning to sell some of these assets in the USA and UAE.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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