Mumbai ponzi case: ED attaches Rs 91 cr in Singapore bank account

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached over Rs 91 crore kept in a Singapore bank in connection with a money laundering probe in a Mumbai-based ponzi scam case.

The amount, which was attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), pertains to the City Limousine chitfund case and a probe is underway against the Chairman of chitfund, Sayed M Masood, for floating illegal ponzi schemes by promising extraordinary returns.

Officials said the agency carried out the action with the help of their Singaporean counterparts and attached "Rs 91.3 crore in foreign currency in Singapore bank accounts". The total seizure of assets in this case now totals to Rs 385 crore.

The agency had attached Rs 166 crore in Singapore last year and Rs 6 crore funds lying in a Swiss bank account in 2012 apart from few other such attachments in the past in this case.

The central probe agency considers these funds to be the "proceeds of crime" .

The agency is investigating the case as it suspects that "by floating ponzi schemes offering astronomically high returns, Ms City Limousines (India) Limited and Ms City Realcom Limited, its Chairman and other directors of the companies have cheated thousands of investors across the country of funds to the tune of hundreds of crores."

An attachment, under PMLA, is aimed to deprive an accussed from taking benefits of their ill-gotten assets and such an order can be challenged by the accused at the adjudicating authority of the said Act within a period of 180 days.