The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 2.37 crore of Jeevendra Poddar and Shipra Singh under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the offence of money laundering initiated against Ameet Savant and others. The attached assets are in the form of a flat in Goa, Office Space in Gera Imperium Grand in Goa and BMW cars among others.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIRs dated August 21, 2019 and December 12, 2019 registered by Goa Police under various sections of IPC and Goa Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1999 against Ameet Savant, Jeevendra Poddar, Shipra Singh, and others for duping of investors to the tune of approximately Rs 21.38 crore by promising fixed returns of 2 to 5 percent per month.
Investigation by ED revealed that Ameet Savant, as Authorized Representative (AP) of Ventura Securities Ltd. had collected money to the tune of Rs 21.38 crore from the complainants between 2015 and 2019. Instead of depositing the same in the demat accounts of investors maintained with Ventura Securities Ltd., had misappropriated the same by depositing in the accounts of his own similarly named proprietorship firm, VENTURA, the agency said in a statement.
Savant had further laundered the money received from complainants for gambling/speculation in the securities market and lost money to the tune of Rs 9.86 crore approximately between 2016 and 2018, it further said.
Further, Savant had transferred Proceeds of Crime (POC) to the tune of Rs 5.45 crore in the bank accounts of Jeevendra Poddar and Shipra Singh as commission/brokerage for sourcing clients for him, it added.