Ed arreStS aGent In rS 600 Crore PonzI SCam

CHANDIGARH/ NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested an agent of a Chandigarh-based firm Uni Pay Group, which siphoned off Rs 600 crore from thousands of investors through its ponzi schemes, an official said on Saturday. The agency arrested Kamal K. Bakshi on Friday during its raids at five places in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur and Haryana’s Gurugram, Faridabad and Ambala.

Bakshi, who had been absconding and was declared a proclaimed offender, was produced before a special court on Saturday that sent him to 14-day judicial custody in an ongoing Prevention of Money Laundering Act case being investigated by the ED against Unipay 2U Marketing Pvt Ltd and Unigateway2U Trading Pvt Ltd.

“During its probe, we zeroed in on two of the active agents of Uni Pay Group, Bakshi and Arvind Kumar Singh, and accordingly conducted searches at five different places on Friday. Searches resulted in recovery of some immovable properties, jewellery, high-end cars estimated to be valued at Rs 4.18 crore, which have been seized,” an ED statement said. An ED official said that thousands of unsuspecting investors were systematically lured and cheated of Rs 600 crore by floating a ponzi or pyramid scheme assuring exorbitant returns. Initial investors were paid the returns to win over confidence of more people. “When thousands of people across the country invested in the schemes, the companies stopped returns since October 2010 and gradually siphoned off crores of rupees of investors,” the official said.