The Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached property belonging to Thadathil Jobby George of Kallara, in Kottayam district, who is under investigations for allegedly conning people of money by promising various services.
It is suspected that the properties were brought using proceeds from money laundering. The properties will be attached over the next six months under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
It is learnt that Jobby George had done transactions worth Rs. 8 crore through various accounts over a period of one and a half years without even having a Permanent Account Number (PAN) or paying any income-tax.
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One of the first complaints against Mr. George had its origin in a 2010 deal in which a businessman in Muvattupuzha claimed that he had paid Rs. 15 lakh to the accused to obtain admission for his son in the New Castle Medical School in England.
The property attached include an apartment owned by Mr. George in Kadvanthara; an acre of land at Kallara in the name of his mother Alice George and an adjacent plot of an extent of 80 cents owned by his father T.L. George.
Mr. George will also face criminal proceedings in connection with the complaints filed against him by people who were allegedly cheated by him.
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According to reports, Mr. George is also wanted in connection with the assault on Aneesh Palaikkamattam, member of the Kallara panchayat. The incident took place on September 11 and he is reported to be in hiding.
He and his wife Sunimol had surrendered before the Muvattupuzha deputy superintendent of police M. N. Ramesh on December 11, 2012 after he was wanted in connection with the complaint by the businessman in Muvattupuzha.
Investigations had showed that the NRI accounts operated by Mr. George logged transactions worth less than Rs. one crore before the scam. The volume of transactions went up to as much as Rs. 13.5 crore between August 2010 and June 2012.