Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a case of money laundering in the IMA scam, which has left thousands of gullible investors in the lurch, officials said on Friday.
The agency's zonal office in Bengaluru has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR, and has pressed criminal charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said. The ED has taken cognisance of the complaint registered by the Karnataka police and the creation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged fraud, the officials said.
ED officials met police officials at the Commercial Street police station and also members of the SIT to gather information about IMA Managing Director Mohammad Mansoor Khan, who has fled the country, and his company.
Meanwhile, SIT sleuths have started interrogating the six board of directors of IMA Nasir Hussain, Naveed Ahmed Nattamkar, Nizammuddin Azeemuddin, Afshan Tabassum, Afsar Pasha and Arshad Khan, who surrendered before the police on Tuesday. Apart from the board of directors, Mansoor Khan's auditor Iqbal Khan too was detained for questioning.
While the board of directors pleaded innocence and told their interrogators that they had no idea about Mansoor's plans, a few of them also said that they doubted Mansoor's unusual move of declaring a five-day holiday for Eid.
“This never happened before. We had only one day leave on Eid. When the MD announced five-day leave for Eid, it did not go down well with most of the directors considering the disturbed situation following non-payment of returns to customers. But we did not inquire about it much," the directors reportedly told the police.
While the police have sealed IMA's offices and seized Mansoor's vehicles and other properties, his auditor was summoned for questioning by the police. He was being questioned about Mansoor's whereabouts, his transactions, both online and offline, and his properties.
