Investment scheme fraud: ED arrests four in Chennai – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chennai, has arrested four men for their involvement in a money laundering case relating to a collective investment scheme fraud of over Rs 1,100 crore.
The accused have been identified as N M Umashankar, chairman and managing director of Disc Assets Lead India Ltd, N Arunkumar, director in the same company, V Janarthanan, managing director in the company, and Saravanakumar, director of Dal Marketing Solutions. The accused were produced before a sessions court in Chennai and were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
The ED initiated investigations under PMLA against Disc Assets Lead India Limited, Chennai, and others based on an FIR registered by the economic offence wing of the Tamil Nadu police under sections 406, 420 and 120B of the IPC on the basis of a complaint received from the public.
The ED said Disc Assets Lead India Limited had collected money under various schemes, stating that the customers would pay a fixed amount every month for a period by the end of which they were promised land. But the company defaulted and no land was allotted.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) initiated inquiries against the company, stating that it was doing business of collective investment scheme for which SEBI’s permission was not taken. To circumvent these SEBI provisions, the company started collecting money from customers through another company — Dal Marketing Solutions Limited. The amount declared to be collected by the company from the customers was Rs 1,137 crore. But lots of inconsistencies were found between the data submitted by the directors and the data from the banks.
Investigations under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) revealed that, the amounts collected have been diverted in the form of investment in various subsidiaries, royalty, donations, land advance and commission to many entities in which the accused men’s immediate family members, close relatives and employees of DISC were the key managerial personnel.