The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday announced attachment of properties worth Rs 4,109 crore and spread across three states in a money laundering case linked to an alleged ponzi scam involving Agri Gold group, a day after the arrest of its three promoters.
The promoters of the Agri Gold group were accused of cheating 32 lakh investors to the extent of Rs 6,380 crore in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The accused – chairman Avva Venkata Rama Rao and directors Avva Venkata Seshu Narayana Rao and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad - were produced before the ED special court, which granted their 10-day custody to the agency from December 27 to January 5 for questioning.
The ED attached assets include 2,809 landed properties, Haailand Amusement Park in the name of Arka Leisure and Entertainments Private Limited near Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district spread over 48 acres and shares of various companies, plants and machinery.
These attached properties are located in different districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, besides Bengaluru, Kolar, Yadgir and Mandya in Karnataka, Khurda in Odisha and Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
According to an official release from the ED, investigation has been taken up under PMLA based on multiple FIRs lodged in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka. The scam was perpetrated by Avva Venkata Rama Rao through Agri Gold group of companies in collusion with his seven brothers and other associates.
{{/usCountry}}According to an official release from the ED, investigation has been taken up under PMLA based on multiple FIRs lodged in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka. The scam was perpetrated by Avva Venkata Rama Rao through Agri Gold group of companies in collusion with his seven brothers and other associates.
{{/usCountry}}They set up more than 150 companies and started collecting deposits from the public with a promise of providing developed plots and farm lands or returning money at a high rate of return on maturity or pre-term.
Agri Gold had employed thousands of commission agents to lure people with various schemes for hefty commission and collected Rs 6380 crore from 32.02 lakh investor accounts. In the end, the gullible investors neither got plots nor could recover their deposits.
Investigation under PMLA further revealed that the promoters of Agri Gold group siphoned huge amounts of these deposits and invested them in myriad verticals and in private companies which were directly owned by their family. Investments were made in various sectors including power infrastructure, entertainment, food industry, travel agencies, chemicals, insurance, data processing, timber, software and other sectors.
The names of Agri Gold promoters also figured in the Paradise Papers leaks, where global data on offshore holdings of various entities was revealed in 2017. They had incorporated companies with the help of the infamous Mossack Fonseca in Cayman Islands, the ED said.
“Investigation conducted so far led to ED identifying assets worth Rs 4109 crore which have been provisionally attached under the PMLA. Further investigation is under process,” the ED release said.
While the promoters are in jail, their lawyers could not be reached for comment.