The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said a money laundering chargesheet has been filed against a Haryana-based company and its directors accused of cheating about 31 lakh investors by way of a Ponzi or fraud multi-level marketing scheme.
It said a prosecution complaint or chargesheet has been filed against Hisar-based Future Maker Lifecare Pvt Ltd and its two directors Radhe Shyam and Bansi Lal under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The chargesheet has been filed before a special PMLA court in Panchkula “with a prayer for awarding punishment to the accused persons and confiscation of attached assets to the tune of ₹261.35 crore”.
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According to an ED statement Radhe Shyam and Bansi Lal, both residents of Haryana, floated companies in the name of Future Maker Life Care Pvt Ltd and FMLC Global marketing Pvt Ltd.
“Through these companies they have duped innocent persons in guise of a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme that promoted various Ponzi schemes in many parts of the country,” the Enforcement Directorate alleged in the statement issued here.
An MLM scheme works in a pyramidal structure where the persons at the top gain at the behest of the loss borne by the persons at the base of the pyramid.
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The ED's money laundering case against the accused was filed after taking congnisance of multiple Haryana and Telangana police FIRs registered against the accused for “cheating lakhs of investors”.
The Haryana Police had slapped charges of cheating and conspiracy under various sections of the IPC and those under the prize chit and money circulation banning Act of 1978 read with Haryana protection of interest of deposits in Financial Establishment Act of 2013 against the accused, the central probe agency said.
The ED said its probe found that “around 31 lakh investors lost their money by making investments in the schemes floated by the accused”.
“In this scheme, the initial investors were paid high returns to attract more investors and entice current ones to invest more money. When other investors begin to participate, a cascading effect begins,” it said.
The schemer pays a “return” to initial investors from the investments of new participants rather than from genuine profits, it said, describing the modus operandi allegedly deployed by the accused to perpetrate the fraud.
“Radhey Shyam used to lure innocent persons through speeches in fancy seminars conducted across India promising high returns of up to 5-8 times of the investment in two years.” “Bansi Lal was the financial mastermind whose role was layering and laundering of the tainted money collected from the investors in various paper concerns,” the ED claimed.
The funds so collected, it said, were “diverted” into the bank accounts of their family members and then properties were acquired using the ill-gotten money.
The agency had attached assets worth ₹261.35 crore of the accused in the past and they consisted of a flat in Chandigarh, two in Delhi, some agricultural land parcels, balance in bank accounts and some cash.