ED attaches property worth Rs. 150 crore of M/S Gold Quest International Chennai

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday provisionally attached property worth over Rs. 150 crores under the provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a case of money circulationand other fraudulent activities.

Based on various complaints of cheating the public, Tamil Nadu police registered a case against M/s Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, in 2009 for cheating the public by selling the gold coins and other articles at exorbitant prices, projecting the aforementioned articles as limited edition products having numismatic values.

Preliminary enquiries by the Police revealed that the company had expanded their operations by luring the public towards such articles and huge commissions were paid to the marketing people.

Following the investigation by the police authorities, investigation under the PMLA was initiated by the ED in 2016. Several people who were at the helm of affairs, including Pushpam Appalanaidu, K. Padma and Munnawar Ahamed were examined and voluntary statements were recorded under the provisions of the PMLA.

The financial investigations under the PMLA revealed that these people acquired several properties using the proceeds of crime in the name of M/s Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd., M/S Quest net enterprises and M/s Pallava Resorts Ltd. These properties are now provisionally attached under the provisions of the PMLA on the reasonable belief that these properties were involved in the offence of money laundering.