ED Raids Ex-MLA Premises In Multi-Crore Chit Fund Scam
The Enforcement Directorate searched five premises linked to former Congress MLA Malla Vijaya Prasad and others in a multi-crore chit fund case, seizing ₹1.01 crore in cash and freezing 182 bank accounts.
The enforcement directorate’s Bhubaneswar zonal office, conducted search operations under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, at five residential/business premises in relation to the multi-crore chit fund scam.
The five entities are linked to the Wellfare Buildings and Estates Pvt Ltd (WBEPL) and its directors namely Malla Vijaya Prasad, a former Congress MLA, Varaharamakrishnasatya Srinivasarao Alla and others located in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.
During the search operations, cash of `1.01 crore along with details of various movable and immovable properties, incriminating materials and documents related to WBEPL, its directors and related entities were recovered or seized.
Freezing orders were issued for 182 bank accounts along with six numbers of high-end luxury vehicles pertaining to WBEPL and its directors.
ED initiated investigations in the case on the basis of multiple FIRs and subsequent charge sheets filed by the economic offences wing, Bhubaneswar; CBI, ACB, Dhanbad; Odisha Police and a reference by the serious fraud investigation office against WBEPL and its directors.
Investigations revealed that the directors and managing director of WBEPL operated a large-scale deposit mobilisation scheme disguised as a real estate business, collected public funds to the tune of more than `2000 crore in violation of statutory provisions, relied on fresh collections to repay earlier investors, diverted investor funds for unrelated purposes and personal gains, manipulated its financial statements to conceal deposits and engaged in irregular land transactions designed to suppress the true consideration and evade statutory obligations.
Investigations by ED so far revealed that these funds were collected unauthorisedly from thousands of gullible investors belonging to Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh through different schemes under the false pretext of providing them land in Visakhapatnam.
The company had closed its operations from the branch offices located across multiple states and thereby cheated the investors, officials said.
