The enforcement agency has attached properties valued at 4,109 rupees.
Hyderabad:
Enforcement agencies distributed 4,109 rupees across states in a money laundering case related to a suspected Ponzi fraud in which about 32 lakh people were defrauded for over 6,000 rupees, the agency said on Thursday.
The case concerns the Agri Gold Group of Companies, whose three promoters were arrested by the Central Agency on Tuesday.
“The attached assets include 2,809 properties, the Haailand amusement park on behalf of Arka Leisure and Entertainments Private Limited in Andhra Pradesh (spread over 48 acres) and shares in various companies, plants and machinery,” the enforcement agency said in a statement.
The assets provisionally linked under the Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are located in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
The enforcement agency, which investigates financial crimes, opened an investigation after reviewing various police cases against the defendants in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka for allegedly defrauding 32 lakh investors after collecting rupees 6,380 worth of funds were.
The main suspects are Avva Venkata Rama Rao, Avva Venkata S. Narayana Rao and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad – the supporters of the Agri Gold Group of Companies who were arrested by the enforcement agency.
According to the agency, Avva Venkata Rama Rao planned the scam and, along with his seven brothers and other employees, founded more than 150 companies and began raising funds from the public for the purposes of developing land and farmland or generating massive income.
“Thousands of commission agents were tasked with attracting people with various commission plans and managed to raise Rs 6,380 crore from over 32 lakh investor accounts. As a result, however, investors were unable to get land or get their deposits back,” said the Agency.
They alleged that Avva Venkata Rama Rao and his family continued to withdraw funds and illegally diverted the public funds and invested in companies that were directly owned by their family.
Their names also appeared in the 2017 Paradise Papers Leak, and they had started businesses in the Cayman Islands with the help of the infamous Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.