New Delhi, Dec 24 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 4109 crores under Prevention of Money laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in Agri Gold ponzi scheme case, which includes 2809 landed properties and Arka Leisure and Entertainments Private Limited’s Haailand Amusement Park in Andhra Pradesh spread over 48 acres, shares of various companies, plants and machinery.
These attached properties are located in various districts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odissa and Tamil Nadu. The ED’s move came after the the registration of multiple FIRs in these States as this scam was perpetrated by accused Avva Venkata Rama Rao through Agri Gold Group of Companies.
The key accused of this case Rama Rao hatched a well planned conspiracy and along with his seven brothers and other associates setting up more than 150 companies and started collecting deposits from general public with a promise of providing developed plots or farm lands or withdrawal at a high rate of return on maturity or pre-term, the probe agency officials said.
Thousands of commission agents were engaged to lure people with various schemes for hefty commission and managed to collect Rs 6380 crore from 32,02,628 investor accounts.
In the end, the gullible investors neither got plots nor could recover their deposits. Investigation under PMLA further revealed that Agri Gold Group Companies used to lure the gullible public to join as depositors in their schemes either directly or through their agents under the pretext of real estate deal.
Investigation under PMLA further revealed that Avva Venkata Rama Rao and his family went on a siphoning spree and illegally diverted the public deposits and invested in myriad verticals and in private companies which were directly owned by their family.
Their names also figured in the Paradise Leaks and they had incorporated companies with the help of the infamous Mossack Fonsenca in Cayman Islands. The probe in this case has identified assets worth Rs 4109 crores which has been provisionally attached under PMLA, the ED said, adding that further investigation is under process.
