SAGA group Ponzi scam: ED freezes assets worth Rs 30 crore in Mumbai, Bhopal

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) In a fresh action in the Rs 10,000 crore SAGA group Ponzi scam, the ED searched multiple premises in Mumbai and Bhopal and froze Rs 30 crore worth of listed shares, mutual funds, bank balances and nine high-end vehicles, an official said on Tuesday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Headquarters Unit, New Delhi, carried out search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, from August 13 to 16 at premises linked to Sameer Agarwal (SAGA) Group and associates, the official said.

The scam also involved Loni Urban Multi-State Credit and Thrift Co-operative Society (LUCC) and other affiliated co-operative societies, the ED said.

Agrawal, described as the CMD and principal controller of the SAGA Group, is absconding and is suspected to have left the country, the ED said.

During the search operation, the ED seized incriminating documents and cash amounting to Rs 1.53 crore, Foreign Currency amounting to about Rs 35 lakh and gold Jewellery and silver worth Rs 5.25 crore during the search proceedings, said an official statement.

The ED initiated an investigation based on multiple FIRs registered by Police authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other States against LUCC and its affiliated Group of co-operative societies, alleging that since 2009, the public was fraudulently induced to invest in recurring deposit, fixed deposit and monthly income schemes promoted by Sameer Agarwal Group.

The public was promised high assured returns that would be doubled or tripled within three to five years, along with gifts such as cars, without any genuine underlying business activity to support such returns, the ED said.

Using fake banking infrastructure and promises of unrealistic returns, more than Rs 10,000 crore was fraudulently collected by SAGA group from the public, the ED said.

Initially, the investors were given certain payouts; however, most of the investments were siphoned off by Agrawal and his associates towards personal aggrandisement and as market commission to agents and associates.

Funds were collected from the public, predominantly in cash, and funnelled through regional cash-chests before being siphoned off by promoters for investment in immovable and movable assets, both domestically and abroad, using shell companies and through hawala channels, the ED said.

Search investigations have revealed an elaborate network of more than 50 such shell entities controlled by operators identified by the agency.

The ED has already made provisional attachment of assets in the matter under two separate Provisional Attachment Orders, arrested a key functionary of the Group, Ravi Shankar Tiwari, on July 14 under the provisions of PMLA, and filed a chargesheet in a Special PMLA Court on July 24.

–IANS

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