ED attaches assets worth Rs 280 crore in Peoples Group money laundering case
Dec 13, 2024
New Delhi, [India], December 13 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 280 crore in connection with a money laundering investigation involving the Peoples Group in Madhya Pradesh.
ED initiated its investigation based on three prosecution complaints filed by the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh). These prosecution complaints were against Peoples International and Services Pvt Ltd, PGH International Pvt Ltd, Peoples General Hospital Pvt Ltd, and others under Section 447 of the Companies Act, 2013.
The investigation revealed that the accused misappropriated funds received as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through dubious methods.
The ED investigation revealed that accused persons enriched themselves using the money received as FDI, using dubious methods and means, adversely affecting the interest of the shareholders of the three companies (Peoples International and Services Pvt Ltd, PGH International Pvt Ltd, and Peoples General Hospital Pvt Ltd) that received the FDI.
The FDI amounting to Rs 494 crore was received in three companies of the Peoples Group during 2000-2011, and the same were syphoned off in the form of interest-free (or very low-interest) 'loans,' 'security deposits,' advances, and in other such names during 2000 to 2022, to accused persons, said the ED.
ED had earlier attached assets worth Rs 230.4 crore in this case by issuing a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on November 1, 2023, which were in the form of the land, buildings, and machinery and included colleges, schools, training centres, paper mills, and newsprint machinery.
In the present PAO, assets attached by the ED are in the form of the shareholding owned by the accused persons in Peoples International and Services Pvt Ltd, PGH International Pvt Ltd and Peoples General Hospital Pvt Ltd, a residential property at Bhopal and various account balances. The shareholding attached by the ED was acquired by using the FDI received from foreign investors.
