NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth of over 150 crores under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) of Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, involved in a case of money circulation business and cheating the public.
Based on various complaints of cheating the public, Tamil Nadu police registered a case against Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd, Chennai in 2009 for cheating the public by selling the gold coins and other articles at exorbitant prices projecting the said articles as limited edition products having numismatic values. Preliminary enquiries by Police revealed that said company has expanded its operations by luring the public towards such articles and huge commissions were paid to the marketing personnel of the firm.
Following the investigation by the police, a probe under PMLA was initiated by the ED in 2016. Several people who were at the helm of affairs including Pushpam Appalanaidu, K Padma, Munnawar Ahamed and others were examined and voluntary statements were recorded under the provisions of PMLA.
“The financial investigations under PMLA revealed that these people acquired several properties using the proceeds of crime in the name of Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd., Quest net Enterprises, Pallava Resorts Ltd., etc. These properties are now provisionally attached under the provisions of PMLA on the reasonable belief that these properties were involved in the offence of money laundering,” an ED statement said,
The attached properties are immovable properties like residential buildings, vacant land, commercial complexes in Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad and Mumbai worth Rs 16 crores (Document Value) and Rs 56 crores according to the market value.
Other assets attached include cash seized during the searches by Police totaling Rs 5.3 crores,
shares/ mutual funds worth Rs 14 crore, deposits in various Bank Accounts totaling Rs 48 crore, articles of Gold and Silver worth Rs 27 crores.