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The Bhubaneswar zonal office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties of Seashore Group amounting to Rs 157 crore for violation of laws prescribed in Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The attached properties include over 100 acre land in Angul, Bhadrak and Puri districts, 10 flats and a plush office space near Chandka, on the outskirt of Bhubaneswar, a rice mill in Sundergarh and an oil mill in Mayurbhanj district, 200 kg silver coins and 1.4 kg gold. Seashore is one of the 44 companies currently under the scanner of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating money trail of the chit fund companies as they are alleged to have raised several thousand crore rupees from investors by promising unrealistic returns.
The firm was already under probe by Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of state police, which had last year attached the properties of the firm and was awaiting government approval to confiscate and auction the properties for refund of money to the investors, as per the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishment) Act, 2011.
However, ED took over the investigation after taking cognisance of complaints filed by Odisha police and the vigilance department and has now re-attached the properties.
According to FIR filed by the agency, Seashore is accused of running several ponzi schemes and perpetrating an estimated Rs 800 crore fraud duping numerous investors belonging to the state and a few others from West Bengal and Assam. The firm’s managing director Prashant Dash was arrested by state police last year and was quizzed by the CBI recently.
Established in 2005-06, the group entered into money deposit collection, real estate, media and gold trading within a short span. It had signed several agreements with state government to develop tourism spots, development of solar power plant, maintaining hospitals and establishing a corn processing unit.
