New Delhi: Assets worth more than Rs 60 crore of the Chairman of a Maharashtra-based cooperative society have been attached under the anti-money laundering law in a case linked to alleged diversion and duping of investor funds of around Rs 200 crore, the ED said Friday.
A provisional order for attachment of immovable properties like flats, shops and lands belonging to Gilbert Baptist has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal agency said in a statement.
The total value of these assets is Rs 60.44 crore and apart from Baptist, they belong to his family members, aides and entities controlled by him, it said.
Baptist, who was earlier arrested in this case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is currently in judicial custody, established the Malaika Multi-state Credit Cooperative Society (MMCCS) in 2010 along with Marceline Baptist.
The money laundering case stems from two charge sheets filed against the accused by the Maharashtra Police.
The ED alleged Gilbert Baptist appointed a number of “dummy” directors in the cooperative society.
“The society was run as a ‘one man show’ by Gilbert Baptist. All other members were following his instructions for day-to-day operations. The investors were systematically lured to deposit their savings in multiple schemes, with promises of great returns.
“However, instead of investing the deposits of the innocent investors in secure businesses or instruments, Gilbert Baptist diverted the majority of the funds to his own business ventures,” the agency alleged.
He opened various businesses in the names of Malaika Appliances Pvt Ltd (MAPL), Yasoma Industries, Yasoma Wedding Sarees and Malaika Starcity Project etc, which were run from the investments received from MMCCS, it said.
The agency found during investigation that the financial auditors of MMCCS had pointed out several “irregularities” which were “ignored” by Gilbert Baptist and his aides.
No prudent financial norms for sanctioning loans were followed and the same reckless pattern was followed in his businesses also, it alleged.
Gilbert Baptist “diverted” the funds to create properties in his name and that of his family, associates and businesses, the agency found.
“His business ventures lost money and soon the accounts of MMCCS became NPA (non performing assets), resulting in losses to thousands of innocent investors. It is estimated that deposits worth more than Rs 200 crore were lost because of the fraud perpetrated by Gilbert Baptist,” the ED said.
The “proceeds of crime”, acquired by diversion of depositors money, was used to create immovable properties in Maharashtra and the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, in the name of MAPL, Gilbert Baptist, Marceline Baptist, Elcy Rodrigues, Reena Jose, Manohar Shetty, Sushant Sabat, Maliaka Starcity Project, Yasoma Industries and Yasoma Wedding.
PTI