The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has executed its highest attachment in a single case, worth over ₹22,000 crore, with fresh freezing of properties in its money laundering investigation against Chandigarh-based PACL (Pearls Group), accused of orchestrating a ₹48,000 crore Ponzi scheme.
The agency on Friday attached 126 immovable properties in Punjab and Delhi valued at ₹5,046.91 crore in connection with the large-scale financial fraud involving a collective investment scheme operated by M/s PACL Ltd. and related entities, the ED said.
The attached 126 properties have been identified as having been acquired from investor funds, constituting proceeds of crime, it said.
With this attachment, the agency has, so far, attached properties worth a total of ₹22,656.91 crore, including assets located in India and abroad, belonging to PACL and its related entities and persons. Sources said this was also the highest attachment in a single case.
The ED had launched a probe in 2016 on the basis of the CBI FIR, which was registered on the directions of the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the CBI filed a chargesheet and a supplementary chargesheet against 33 accused, including individuals and companies, for their role in running an illegal investment scheme.
The accused entities and individuals of PACL operated an “illegal” collective investment scheme, fraudulently mobilising more than ₹48,000 crore from lakhs of investors across India under the guise of sale and development of agricultural land, according to the ED.
“Investors were induced to invest under cash down payment and instalment payment plans, and were made to sign misleading documents such as agreements, powers of attorney and other instruments,” the agency said.
In most cases, land was never delivered, and approximately ₹48,000 crore remained unpaid to investors. The scheme involved the use of multiple front entities and reverse sale transactions to conceal the fraud and generate wrongful gains.
So far, five chargesheets have been filed by the ED as part of this case registered
in 2016.
After the registration of the CBI case, the Supreme Court directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India on February 2, 2016, to set up a committee under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India, Justice R.M. Lodha, to dispose of the
land bought by PACL and distribute the proceeds to the investors.