Bhubaneswar: The Directorate of Enforcement(ED) on Saturday attached assets worth over Rs 3.92 crore belonging to former Cuttack-Choudwar MLA Pravat Biswal in connection with money laundering case.
“The ED has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs. 3,92,20,000 belonging to Pravat Ranjan Biswal, ex MLA, Cuttack and M/s Media Guru Consultants Private Ltd under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a ponzy scam case of fraudulent collection of deposits from the gullible public in guise of issuance of preferential shares by enrolling the depositors as members of cooperative societies”, the agency said in a statement.
The attached assets include bank balance of Rs 25 lakh at SBI Cuttack Branch belonging to Pravat Ranjan Biswal and one immovable property belonging to M/s Media Guru Consultants Private Ltd. in Nodia, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
The Seashore Group of companies “fraudulently and dishonestly collected huge amounts from the general public, of which Rs 25 lakh was diverted to the ex-MLA and his family members and Rs 4 crore was diverted to Media Guru Consultants Pvt Ltd to set up a news and current affairs TV channel named STV Samachar,” the agency stated.
The money laundering case stems from the FIRs and chargesheets filed against the Seashore Group and its promoters by the Odisha Police’s economic offences wing (EOW) and the CBI.
The ED said this was a “ponzi scam case of fraudulent collection of deposits from the gullible public in guise of issuance of preferential shares by enrolling the depositors as members of cooperative societies.”
These companies were neither registered as non-banking finance company (NBFC) with the RBI nor listed at the National Stock Exchange and as such were not authorised to collect such public deposits, the ED added.
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