Ponzi scam: ED raids Pearl Group premises

Admin   |   31 December, 2015   |   848   |   3980

ED officials said that at least 10 premises of the firm and its directors and associates in Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Chandigarh and Jaipur were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)

NEW DELHI: Probing money laundering in one of the biggest Ponzi scandals ever, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids in the alleged Rs 60,000-crore scam by Pearls Group.

ED officials said that at least 10 premises of the firm and its directors and associates in Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Chandigarh and Jaipur were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

CBI is already probing criminal conspiracy and cheating charges against Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, his two companies Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) and Pearls Golden Forest Limited (PGFL) and their director Sukhdev Singh since February last year. An ED official said that searches were carried out on associate firms and officials of the company and documents and computer hardware suspected to be containing vital information has been seized.

Earlier, capital markets regulator Sebi had found it to have collected money from five crore investors through unauthorised collective investment schemes, also called ponzi schemes, in the name of real estate projects. Bhangoo is alleged to have infrastructure projects in Punjab and other cities and also owned a TV news channel.