December 31 2015
Probing money laundering in one of the biggest Ponzi scandals ever, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted raids in the alleged Rs 60,000-crore scam by Pearls Group. ED officials said that at least ten premises of the firm and its directors and associates in Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Chandigarh and Jaipur were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
CBI is already probing criminal conspiracy and cheating charges against Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, his two companies Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) and Pearls Golden Forest Limited (PGFL) and their director Sukhdev Singh since February last year.
ED official said that searches were carried out on associate firms and officials of the company and documents and computer hardware suspected to be containing vital information has been seized.
The group is being probed by multiple agencies.
Earlier, capital markets regulator SEBI had found it to have collected money from 5 crore investors through unauthorised collective investment schemes, also called ponzi schemes, in the name of real estate projects.