New Delhi, April 12: With a sigh of relief to the investors duped by the Rose Valley chit fund, the government of India Saturday handed over a draft worth Rs 515.31 crore towards compensation of the legitimate investors.
The amount was handed over to Justice DK Seth (Retd.), Chairman of the Asset Disposal Committee, appointed for redressal of the victims’ claims.
Earlier, the ED had handed over an amount of Rs 22 crore to the committee which was used to restitute money to 32,319 lawful investors, according to the ministry statement.
The amount of Rs. 515.31 crore was attached by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the years 2015-17 by investigating money trail and tracing 2,987 different bank accounts.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Finance, the said bank accounts were then seized/attached following due process of law and converted into more than 700 fixed deposits (FDs) after confirmation of attachment by the Adjudicating Authorities.
Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, handed over a demand draft of Rs. 515.31 crore to the committee. It is estimated that this amount will be used to restitute money to approximately 7.5 lakh victims, out of the total claims of 31 lakh lodged so far with the committee.
It may be mentioned that ED has also attached other movable and immovable assets of Rs 1,172 crore (present market value of the assets is estimated to be more than Rs. 2,000 crore), which is also in process of liquidation and refund to the victims.
Now the ED is investigating as many as five Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases against the Rose Valley Group in the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura.
ED has filed prosecution complaints in all these cases before the Special Courts under the PMLA.
Investigation revealed that out of the above, an amount of Rs 6,666 crore, which constitutes the proceeds of crime, remained unpaid to the investors.
