ED attaches Pearl Agro assets worth over Rs 10,000 crore | India News
New Delhi: In the single largest attachment of assets, the ED on Wednesday said it has attached assets worth over Rs 10,000 crore of Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL) in a money laundering case. These properties are located in SAS Nagar, Rupnagar, Zirakpur and Mohali in Punjab. With this, the total attachment value against PACL and its promoter Nirmal Singh Bhangu and his family has crossed Rs 17,600 crore. The latest biggest attachment was also against the group when the agency, in January this year, attached 37 properties worth over Rs 2,000 crore, including a prime plot worth over Rs 1,500 crore near the Jaipur airport and others in Ludhiana. PACL, a multi-level marketing firm that promised to allot plots to millions of people across the country, duped investors and regulators alike for nearly two decades and managed to collect over Rs 48,000 crore, pouring most of the money into buying properties in India and abroad, according to an assessment by the ED. “In most cases, the land was never delivered, and around Rs 48,000 crore remained unpaid to the investors,” the ED said. The scheme involved the use of multiple front entities and reverse sales transactions to conceal fraud and make unfair gains, it added. The case is based on an inquiry directed by the Supreme Court and a direction issued to SEBI to constitute a panel to dispose of the land purchased by PACL and distribute the sale proceeds among the investors.
