New Delhi: Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer, the son-in-law of the late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, owner of the Pearls Group, was arrested on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged role in a Ponzi scheme involving over ₹48,000 crore, police said.
After Bhangoo was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016, Hayer, his wife Barinder Kaur and mother-in-law Prem Kaur looked after the business. They formed new firms, the directors of which were their relatives, servants and drivers. Bhangoo passed away in August last year in Delhi.
Punjab Agro Company Limited (PACL), a subsidiary of the Pearls Group, and Bhangoo, had allegedly cheated 55 million investors through a network of 2.3 million agents by promising them agricultural plots and a high return on investments.
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In 2016, the Supreme Court restrained the PACL and its directors, promoters and associate companies from selling or transferring properties in or outside India. In December 2015, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) ordered attachment of all PACL assets and its nine promoters and directors for their failure to refund money to investors. A panel headed by Justice RM Lodha (retired) had initiated the process of refunds to investors.
“Investigation revealed that Hayer was the director of several associate companies of PACL, including two Australian entities – Pearls Australasia Pty Ltd and Australasia Mirage I-Pty Ltd. “PACL and associates diverted ₹657.18 crore of the proceeds of crime (POC) to these Australian entities controlled by Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer,” the ED said in a statement issued on Saturday.
“These funds were then invested by the Australian companies in various real estate properties in Australia. Further, Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer was also dissipating the properties of PACL and its related entities in violation of Supreme Court order dated July 25, 2016,” it added.
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Earlier, ED had attached two immovable properties in Australia valued at ₹462 crore and various movable and immovable properties worth ₹244 crore in India in this case.
“These asset details have been shared with the Justice Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, for overseeing the process of property disposal and restituting the money to investors,” an ED official said.
A chargesheet in the case registered in Ferozepur district in 2020 was filed in a Zira court in 2021. Fifty-five people, including company officials and family members of Bhangoo, who is already behind bars for a Ponzi scam involving ₹48,000 crore, were booked for cheating, criminal conspiracy and other sections of the Indian Penal Code at Zira police station on July 16, 2020.