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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable properties valued at Rs 762.47 crore in connection with Rs 48,000 crore ponzi scheme case involving PACL Ltd, its directors, promoters, and associated entities, the agency said on Saturday.
https://x.com/dir_ed/status/1944071195764093413 The properties, spread across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, and even Australia, have been seized under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, said the ED in a statement. ED's Delhi zonal office took the action based on its investigation initiated following First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation under Sections 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), against PACL Ltd., PGF Limited, Late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, and others. ED further said that the case pertains to large-scale fraudulent collective investment schemes by PACL that were structured to deceive and defraud investors. "Through these deceptive schemes, the PACL, through its directors and others, collected and misappropriated around Rs 48,000 crore from unsuspecting investors, which is nothing but Proceeds Of Crime (POC)," said the federal agency. ED investigation revealed that the "funds fraudulently collected from lakhs of gullible investors were systematically diverted and layered through multiple transactions to conceal their illicit origins. "These tainted funds were ultimately utilized to acquire 68 immovable properties having current market value of Rs 762.47 crore (approximately) in the names of Late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo (one of the promoters of PACL), his family members, and entities related to PACL" said the ED. As per the ED, this was deliberately done to disguise the true nature of these assets and project them as legitimate properties, thereby attempting to mask the POC as lawful assets. (ANI)
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