The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday attached properties worth Rs 4,109 crore across several states in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged ponzi scam involving Agri Gold Group of Companies, a prominent conglomerate in South India.
“ED attaches Haailand Amusement Park in AP [Andhra Pradesh], shares of various companies, plant and machinery and 2,809 landed properties located in AP, Karnataka, Orissa, Telangana, TN [Tamil Nadu], totalling to Rs 4,109 crores under [the] PMLA [Prevention of Money Laundering Act] in a Agri Gold Ponzi fraud Case,” the agency said in a tweet.
The promoters of the Agri Gold group have been accused of duping 32 lakh investors in Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh of Rs 6,380 crore, according to Hindustan Times. They were arrested on Tuesday. The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation is based on several first information reports filed against the accused in the three states.
Avva Venkata Rama Rao, Avva Venkata Seshu Narayana Rao and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad allegedly collected funds from their investors by promising to provide them plots and farm lands or good return on their money, according to The Hindu. The accused floated over 150 companies and enlisted the help of commission agents to cheat the investors.
The agency also said that Avva Venkata Rama Rao illegally diverted the funds raised from the public and invested them in family-owned companies, NDTV reported.
The names of the three accused had also appeared in Paradise Papers Leak in 2017. They had allegedly established companies in Cayman Islands, a tax haven, with the help of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonsenca.
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