ED attaches Rs 66 Cr assets in MLM scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets of Rs 66.30 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of Indusviva Health Sciences Private Limited, its chairman CA Anzar and others in a Rs 1,500 crore multi-level marketing (MLM) scam.

The accused Anzar and Abhilash Thomas were arrested by the ED on December 15 last year and are presently in judicial custody.

The financial fraud probe agency had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Gachibowli police station in Hyderabad. It said that the accused company was into a multi-level marketing scam having illegal pyramid type structure and was working under the guise of Direct Selling Business.

"The accused company engaged a large number of distributors and did rigorous marketing about the commission schemes of the company stating that there is a great opportunity for quick and easy money by becoming a member and then in turn making further enrollments under one's downline on the right side and left side in a binary manner," said the ED.

In order to project their fraud pyramid scheme as a legitimate business, the accused introduced some products which were by their own admission valued at only 20 per cent of the sale revenue and in reality were completely worthless. The membership fee paid by new clients used to pay commission to old clients. According to the ED, by giving false promises and inducements, the company enrolled around 10 lakh members and collected around Rs 1,500 crore since its inception.

During the investigation under PMLA, the ED noticed that CA Anzar, Chairman of Indusviva and Abhilash Thomas, CEO of Indusviva, diverted funds to the subsidiary company and their other related companies and to their personal accounts.

"These funds were utilized to acquire immovable assets which are identified to the tune of Rs 50.47 crore in the name of the companies and individuals. Further, movable properties are also identified in the form of bank balances to the tune of Rs 15.83 crore lying in 20 bank accounts of Indusviva, its chairman and related companies. All these properties have been provisionally attached," the probe agency said."

Further investigation is under progress," it added.

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