PANAJI
Shreesurya scam kingpin Sameer Joshi, who allegedly duped several investors across Maharashtra and Goa, had his assets seized by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Nagpur.
The ED sleuths provisionally attached movable and immovable assets located in Nagpur, Amravati, Akola and Margao among other places, valued at Rs 38.33 Crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attached assets include movable (Fixed Deposits) and immovable assets acquired by Joshi, his companies/firms and his co-accused agents/accomplices in what the ED states is the Multi-level Marketing scam of M/s Shreesurya Investments. The prime accused was granted bail by Maharashtra Court last January over nine years after his arrest.
“ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Nagpur Police under various sections of IPC which revealed that Joshi defrauded and entrapped the innocent public by promising exorbitant returns under various schemes promoted by his HUF, that is, M/s Shreesurya Investments along the line of Wasankar model. However, he duped the investors and used the public funds to accumulate properties in his name, his family members and business entities. Joshi also made false and misleading advertisements about the benefits of the scheme,” the ED stated.
Investigation reveals that a total of 1,267 investors were identified who were defrauded to the tune of Rs 105.05 crore approx which was ascertained as the total Proceeds of Crime (PoC) till date. In this case, the SEBI has also filed a Prosecution Complaint u/s 24(1) of the SEBI Act, 1992 against Sameer Joshi.
The ED further said that in the course of the investment activities, various commission agents were also employed by Shreesurya Group wherein they accepted 3-7 per cent of commission on the investments done by the investors. The officials said 25 such agents are identified as co-accused in the supplementary chargesheets filed by other probing agency.
