The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 5.54 crore of Jeevan Suraksha Group of Companies in a money laundering case.
ED’s Guwahati Zonal Office has issued the Provisional Attachment Order under Section 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), attaching movable and immovable properties of the group and its Directors.
The attached assets comprise credit balances of around Rs 1.42 crore lying in 48 bank accounts and 22 immovable properties valued at around Rs 4.11 crore located in Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal.
ED initiated investigation under the PMLA on the basis of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, ACB, Guwahati under various Sections of IPC, 1860 and the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. The matter was also investigated by the CID, Assam (PS Case No. 81/2012) and by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under Section 212 of the Companies Act, 2013.
Investigation revealed that the Jeevan Suraksha Group, operating principally through M/s Jeevan Suraksha Real Estate Ltd., M/s Jeevan Suraksha Associate Marketing Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Jeevan Suraksha Energy and Industries Ltd., along with its sister concerns, floated a ponzi/money-circulation scheme through a pyramidal network of agents and about 422 branches spread across the Northeastern States. Under camouflaged schemes such as recurring and fixed deposits, product and plot bookings, monthly income schemes and redeemable preference shares, the Group induced approximately 6,88,192 investors to part with their money on the promise of abnormally high returns, without holding any licence or authorisation to accept such deposits.
The group is alleged to have collected about Rs 403.63 crore from the investing public and repaid only about Rs 132.72 crore, largely to sustain the appearance of legitimacy and to attract fresh deposits, thereby generating proceeds of crime of approximately Rs 270.91 crore.
According to ED, no genuine business or investment activity backed the collections. Monies received from new investors were used to pay earlier investors, until the branches were abruptly closed and the promoters absconded. Investigation further revealed that the tainted funds were diverted from the company accounts to the personal accounts of the Directors and their family members, layered through cash withdrawals, insurance policies, fixed deposits and inter-entity transfers, and ultimately invested in immovable properties acquired in the names of the companies, the Directors, their relatives and associates.
Jeevan Suraksha Group Ponzi Case: ED Freezes Bank Accounts, Properties Across Three States
