Agri Gold ponzi scam: ED attaches assets worth Rs. 32.37 cr in TS and AP

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 52 immovable properties spread across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana worth Rs. 32.37 crore in the Agri Gold ponzi scam.

ED initiated a money-laundering investigation based on multiple FIRs lodged in AP, Telangana, and Karnataka. Agri Gold Group led by Avva Venkata Rama Rao ran a fraudulent collective investment scheme in the guise of real estate business for which more than 130 companies were floated. The Group collected deposits from the public with a promise of providing developed plots/farmlands or withdrawal at a high rate of return on maturity/pre-term.

Thousands of commission agents were engaged to lure people with various schemes for hefty commissions. The Group had collected Rs. 6,380 crore from 32,02,628 investor accounts. In the end, the investors neither got plots nor could they recover their deposits.

The modus operandi of the Agri Gold Group was that it would lure the public to join as depositors in their schemes either directly or through agents under the pretext of real estate deals. The deposit agreements did not mention the actual market value of the land, its location or boundaries, survey numbers, or the layout permissions. They tried to color it as a real estate business but in reality, it was an unregulated unlicensed collective investment scheme.

Earlier on 24 December 2020, ED had attached assets worth Rs. 4,109.31 crore. The present attachment was done after the identification of new properties during the course of the investigation. The total attachment value in the case now stands at Rs. 4,141.68 crore.