Illegal betting scam: Cong MLA collected over Rs 2,000cr from websites, says ED

Bengaluru, Sep 3 The investigation into the illegal betting scam by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has revealed that Karnataka Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra and his associates collected over Rs 2,000 crore through single gateway from websites in short span.

A statement noted that the Bengaluru Zonal Office of the ED has carried out search operations on September 2 at multiple premises in Bengaluru and Challekere under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in the case of Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra and others related to cheating public in illegal online betting.

Searches have been carried out across 31 premises in Challekere, Bengaluru, Panaji, Gangtok, Jodhpur, Hubli and Mumbai, the ED stated.

During the course of earlier searches, an amount of Rs 12 crore in cash, gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, silver articles around 10 kg along with 4 vehicles were seized, the ED said.

Further investigation has revealed that the accused is running several online betting sites in the name of King567, Raja567, Lion567, etc, according to ED.

It has also been revealed that several gateways have been used for routing payments collected through these websites, the ED said.

The money collected from these websites being operated by Veerendra and his associates through single gateway alone is more than Rs 2,000 crore in a short span of time, the ED stated.

It has been revealed that, K.C. Thippeswamy, brother of the accused is operating 3 business entities from Dubai such as Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, Prime Technologies and that these entities are related to the call centre services and gaming business of Veerendra, the ED said.

It is being suspected that many more such Dubai-based entities like Castle Rock Project Management Services, Lascaux Core Project Management Services etc. have been incorporated by Veerendra in partnership with Thippeswamy, Pruthvi N Raj, Anil Gowda and others, the ED probe has revealed.

ED investigation further revealed that the said mule accounts are provided by various middlemen to the operators of these gaming websites, in this case Appu alias Pruthvi N Raj (nephew of Veerendra), who in turn use the same to collect the funds received from various players.

These transactions include layering the said money deposits of players through escrow accounts of gateways and TSPs and then making settlement in mule accounts which are controlled by the gaming site owners, the ED said.

These funds are further siphoned off in various ways, including through hawala transactions, the ED said.

"It has also been revealed that MLA Veerendra and his associates in Dubai are operating several gaming websites by using various gateways and fintech service providers for layering of funds and for masking their illicit activities as genuine e-commerce businesses," The ED stated.

The ED statement further stated," "During the searches,5 high end vehicles including Mercedes Benz with VIP numbers 0003, KA 50 MB 0003, KA 09 ML 0003, KA 53 MD 0003, KA 53 MH 0003, KA 16 P 0003 and one Mercedes Benz with VIP number 5267, KA 02 MU 5267 were seized."

Further, an amount of Rs 55 crore were marked freeze, including Rs 40.69 crore in 9 bank accounts and 1 Demat account of MLA Veerendra and a total amount of Rs14.46 crore in 262 mule accounts recovered from one of the accused gateways through which money collected by multiple gaming websites being operated by Veerendra and his associates were being routed, according to the ED.

The said searches and tracing of Proceeds of Crime (POC) have been undertaken during the ED custody of prime accused MLA Chitradurga city Veerendra , the ED said.

"Earlier, on August 28, the ED has taken extension of custody of Veerendra for additional 7 days on basis of documentary evidences linking him to generation and laundering of POC.

ECIR was recorded earlier against Veerendra and others related to cheating public in illegal online betting cases, " The ED said.

Further investigation is under progress.

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