ED attaches assets worth Rs 5,000 cr in US, UAE, Thailand in investors' 'fraud' case

New Delhi, May 8 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has attached 30 assets in the US, the UAE and Thailand as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged 'Pan card club' investors' fraud case worth over Rs 5,000 crore.

These properties, attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), are in the name of overseas subsidiaries of Panoramic Universal Ltd (PUL), Mumbai and Late Sudhir Moravekar, an accused in the case, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

"All these assets have been acquired by making payments of Rs 54.32 crore between 2002-2015," it said.

Twenty-two of these attached properties are located in Thailand, six in the UAE and two in the US, the agency said.

The probe pertains to the 'Pancard Clubs investment' fraud case, a probe based on an FIR by the Maharashtra Police (Economic Offences Wing).

The ED said between 1997-2017, Pan Card Limited (PCL) "unauthorisedly" collected investments from about 51 lakh investors across India and "failed" to return more than Rs 5,000 crore to many of these investors.

The EOW filed a charge-sheet against PCL, PUL and 44 other related companies, six directors and five marketing representatives of PCL under various sections of the IPC and the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act.

The ED said the probe found that "proceeds of crime" of about Rs 99 crore were "diverted" from PCL to PUL apart from the personal accounts of family members of Moravekar.

It was found that in 2002, a hotel was bought in New Zealand through overseas direct investments (ODI) by PUL, it said.

Later, the asset was sold off and the wholly-owned subsidiary of PUL in New Zealand was closed "without" due reporting to the RBI.

ODI investments were also made in the USA, the UAE, Thailand and Singapore and remittances worth about Rs 100 crore were sent during 2002-2014, it said.

Assets were acquired in the name of these overseas subsidiary entities and both the sons of Moravekar were planning to sell off some of these properties located in the US and the UAE, it said. PTI NES KSS KSS

Source: PTI