ED conducts searches at 44 locations in money laundering case of M/s Pearl Agro Corporation Limited
PACL was banned by SEBI for illegally collecting at least Rs. 49,100 Crore from 58 million investors over 18 years : ED
New Delhi, October 10
Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Delhi conducted search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 at 44 locations across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telengana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttrakhand in the case of M/s Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL) and its group.
During the search operations, various incriminating documents were recovered and seized.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by CBI undervarious sections of IPC, 1860 wherein it is alleged that PACL India Limited (PACL) collected money from the public through illegal collective investment schemes for allotting plots in various parts of the country or giving an option to take back their expected tentative value of land in lieu of the allotted plot under the scheme on maturity.It is to be mentioned that PACL was banned by SEBI for illegally collecting at least Rs. 49,100 Crore from 58 million investors over 18 years.
ED investigation revealed that Directors of M/s PACL siphoned off the amount received from investors by transferring the funds to shell companies located at Kolkata in the guise of land development expenses. These funds were later withdrawn in cash and handed over to the key associates of PACL at Delhi. These funds were further transferred from Delhi via hawala to companies incorporated in Dubai in the name of the key associates of PACL for the purchase of immovable properties abroad.
ED had already attached two immovable properties in Australia worth Rs 462 crore in 2018 and movable and immovable properties worth Rs 244 Crore in India in 2022. The details of the attached properties were shared with Justice Lodha Committee, appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, for overseeing the process of disposing of properties and to refund the amount to investors.
ED has filed Prosecution Compliants against 11 entities including PACL and its related companies and Nirmal Singh Bhagoo, and his close associates K.S.Toor, M.L Sehjpal, Prateek, C.P.Khandelwal and others
