Rs 31.63 cr assets of eBiz attached

ED attaches properties of its MD Pawan Malhan and his son in MLM fraud case under PMLA  

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 31.63 crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a Pyramid Style Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) fraud case.

The attached assets include interest accrued on the already attached 105 fixed deposits, bank balances, mutual funds and gold jewellery found in the lockeMDr of the main suspect Pawan Malhan, Managing Director of eBiz.com Private Limited and his son Hitik Malhan.

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Earlier, on August 17, 2019, the ED had provisionally attached immovable properties purchased at Rs 34.60 crore and bank balances amounting to Rs 242.25 crore lying in 124 different bank accounts belonging to eBiz.com and its promoters.

The 2019 provisional attachment order of ED for a total value of Rs 277.97 crore was confirmed by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority and ED has already taken possession of the same.

The ED initiated investigation based on the FIRs registered by the Telangana State police against eBiz.com Private Limited and its Directors/Associates for cheating common public by propagating false promises of earning quick and easy money and inviting gullible public to become members of their pyramid scheme.

Money laundering investigation by ED revealed that they were running a pyramid fraud in the guise of direct selling multi-level marketing network by introducing a few worthless products like CDs containing free computer education packages, suit lengths and others.

The purpose of introducing such sub-standard over-priced products was only to masquerade their pyramid fraud as a direct-selling product company. To lure more gullible investors, they extensively advertised their commission model in which exceedingly high commissions were paid to existing members for enrollment of new members in the down links of the pyramid structure, according to a press release.

The promoters conducted mega conventions and flaunted their lavish lifestyle and used social media like Facebook pages to lure gullible investors. They had collected around Rs 1064 crore from around 12 lakh subscribers through a chain of agents spread across the country.

The funds so collected were illegally diverted into the personal accounts of the Directors, their family members and other associates under various expenditure heads including dividends, high salaries/incentives etc.

The ED has already filed a preliminary prosecution complaint against the accused persons on March 12, 2021 before the Principal Special Sessions Judge, Ranga Reddy district.

The second provisional attachment order is issued now to attach further assets worth Rs.30.42 crore lying in 105 accounts maintained in the name of the company, its two Directors and their family members and associates, Rs 64.94 lakhs worth of mutual fund investments and Rs 55.74 lakhs worth of gold jewelry.

Thus, the ED has attached further assets worth Rs 31.63 crore on Thursday.

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