BHUBANESWAR: In a significant development, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) has issued a look-out circular (LOC) against Hungarian national David Gez for his alleged involvement in the Rs 1,000 crore pan-India ponzi and cryptocurrency-based scam.
David was a senior employee of Solar Techno Alliance (STA), the firm which allegedly received deposits and defrauded people. He also was a close associate of Gurtej Singh Sidhu, another senior employee of the dubious company. Gurtej’s WhatsApp chats indicated he was sending $15,000 (Rs 12.44 lakh) every month to David.
David had visited India twice in 2022-2023 on a tourist visa and stayed for around 25 days. He travelled via USA and Turkey during his first visit and through Poland during his next trip to the country. During his visits, the Hungarian travelled to places like Odisha, Jharkhand, New Delhi, Punjab and Goa. In Odisha, he visited Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak, sources in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha said.
Despite being issued a tourist visa, David engaged in carrying out business and promotional activities of STA in violation of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rules. The Odisha EOW will apprise the MEA about the violations committed by David and request the initiation of necessary action against him.
After EOW registered the case in connection with the scam, David reportedly deleted his Instagram account. However, his Indian associates continue to upload videos on YouTube using his AI-generated photographs and voice. EOW’s investigation suggests David has been active for the last one year and before him, a Netherlands national was vigorously taking part in the operations of the firm.
The involvement of the Dutch national in the Ponzi scam is under investigation, said an EOW source. The accused were swindling the ill-gotten money through cryptocurrency transactions. So far, the agency has arrested Gurtej, STA’s Odisha head Nirod Das and another member of the firm - Ratnakar Palei.