The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday it has attached movable and 376 immovable properties worth more than Rs 268 crore in the Akshaya Gold Farms and Villas India Limited (AGFVIL) Ponzi scam case.
"The attached properties are in the name of M/s AGFVIL & sister concerns, its directors, relatives of directors and their benamidars," said the ED in a statement.
An investigation by ED revealed that AGFVIL deliberately cheated the public by collecting deposits without any legal permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
AGFVIL collected investments from lakhs of gullible investors who were encouraged to join by organised agents who were given a handsome commission to enrol new clients. A hierarchy of agents was created in a pyramidal manner to earn high commissions.
Investors were lured into investing their life savings by promising sites in advertised real estate ventures and offering a high rate of return in various deposit schemes (weekly, monthly & lump sum).
In order to earn a handsome commission, agents did promotional programmes and encouraged investors with a promise of handsome return on maturity or owning a plot of equivalent amount.
Fund trail investigation revealed that the money collected from the public was diverted and utilised for investment into group companies of promoters and other companies owned by family members and for purchase of personal properties by Directors in their personal/benami/family member's names, and also illegally withdrawn by Directors in form of commission etc.
The company never had enough land, but still kept on collecting deposits from newer members. The investments received from newer members were used to pay commissions to the agents and the scheme was unsustainable and bound to collapse.
"The accused collected deposits from 19.17 lacs gullible investors spread across 10 States and collected a total of Rs 857 crore via their illegal schemes," the ED said.
Out of the collected amount, AGFVIL has failed to return nearly Rs 384 crore to customers, which is the total proceeds of crime in this case. ED has identified the properties purchased from the proceeds of crime and issued the provisional attachment order on March 8, 2022.
( With inputs from ANI )
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