Agri Gold scam: Ed attaches assets worth Rs 4109 crore under PMLA

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 4109 crores in the Agri Gold Ponzi scam.

The attached assets include 2809 landed properties, Haailand Amusement Park of M/s Arka Leisure and Entertainments Private Limited in AP spread over 48 acres, shares of various companies, plants & machinery. The assets were attached under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act (PMLA).

The attached properties are located in four states. In Andhra Pradesh, properties were located in Anantpur, Kurnool, Krishna, Chitoor, Guntur, Kadapa, Vizianagaram, East & West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Prakasam, Srikakulam, and Kadapa districts

Likewise, properties were also traced in Bengaluru, Kolar, Yadgir, Mandya districts of Karnataka. Properties were also located in Khurda district of Orissa and Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

Properties were also seized in Mahaboob Nagar, Narayanpet, Khammam, Mahboob Nagar, Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad, Medchal, Malkajgiri, and Nalgonda districts of Telangana

"The scam was perpetrated by accused Avva Venkata Rama Rao through Agri Gold Group of Companies. Avva Venkata Rama Rao hatched a well planned conspiracy and along with his seven brothers and other associates setting up more than 150 companies and started collecting deposits from the general public with a promise of providing developed plots/farmlands OR withdrawal at a high rate of return on maturity/pre-term," an ED spokesman said in a statement.

He said thousands of commission agents were engaged to lure people with various schemes for hefty Commission and managed to collect Rs 6380 Crore from 32,02,628 investor accounts.

"In the end, the gullible investors neither got plots nor could recover their deposits. Investigation under PMLA further revealed that Agri Gold Group Companies used to lure the gullible public to join as Depositors in their schemes either directly or through their agents under the pretext of real estate deal," he said.

The spokesman noted that investigation under PMLA further revealed that Avva Venkata Rama Rao and his family went on a siphoning spree and illegally diverted the public deposits and invested in myriad verticals and in private companies that were directly owned by their family.

"Their names also figured in the Paradise Leaks and they had incorporated companies with the help of the infamous Mossack Fonsenca in Cayman Islands. The investigation conducted so far lead ED in the Identification of assets totaling to Rs 4109 crores which have been provisionally attached under PMLA," he said.