VIJAYAWADA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and 376 immovable properties worth more than Rs 268 crore in the Akshaya Gold Farms and Villas India Limited (AGFVIL) ponzi scam case. The attached properties are registered in the name of tainted AGFVIL and its sister companies, directors, relatives of directors and their binamis, ED officials stated.
In a statement on Wednesday, the ED officials said they initiated money-laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Ongole I town police station in 2012 under sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes Act and Section 420 of the IPC against AGFVIL, its promoters and directors Bhogi Subramanyam, Devaki Harnath Babu, M Sudhakara Rao and others for alleged cheating and defrauding lakhs of gullible public through their money circulation pyramid scheme.
In all, 29 FIRs were filed in different police stations and were investigated by AP-CID, which has filed chargesheets in 26 FIRs. CBI Odisha has also filed an FIR against Akshaya Group. The accused collected deposits worth Rs 857 crore from 19.17 lakh customers spread across 10 States.
The ED found that AGFVIL cheated its customers by collecting deposits without any legal permission from RBI and SEBI. “The accused collected investments from investors who were encouraged to join by organised agents, giving handsome commission to enrol new clients. A hierarchy of agents was created in a pyramidal manner to earn high commission. The fund trail investigation carried out by the ED revealed that the money collected from the public was diverted and utilised for investment into group companies of promoters and other companies owned by family members and for purchase of personal properties by directors. The AGFVIL has failed to return nearly Rs 384 crore to its customers.