ED raids Kerala group that 'cheated' investors; freezes Rs 80L deposits, cash

New Delhi | Assets worth about Rs 80 lakh were frozen and seized after raids were conducted against a Kerala-based group that allegedly duped investors by luring them into a monthly investment scheme named 'Apollo Gold', the Enforcement Directorate said Tuesday.

The searches were carried out at 11 locations on October 17 in Calicut, Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram at the residential and office premises of "key individuals" of Apollo and Samana group of companies, it said in a statement.

The money laundering case stems from as many as 48 FIRs filed by the Kerala Police on allegations that the promoters of Apollo Jewellery group including Moosa Haji Charaparambil, Basheer and other directors "duped" depositors by asking them to invest in its monthly income scheme "Apollo Gold".

The scheme stipulated that for every Rs 1 lakh deposit, the depositor will receive a monthly dividend of Rs 1,000 and upon maturity after 12 months, they will receive a refund of their invested amount.

Investors who continue or renew their deposit beyond 12 months were eligible for profit sharing with Apollo Jewellery. Initially, the group fulfilled their commitment; however, after 2020, they "neither paid the dividend amount nor returned the deposited amount to the depositors", the ED claimed.

Charaparambil "absconded" after "defaulting" the payments to the depositors/investors, it said.

Apollo Jewellery Group has shown "substantial" amounts of unsecured loans from several investors in their audited balance sheets without payment of any interest to them, raising doubts on the genuineness of the names figuring in the financials, according to the ED.

The total unsecured loans, paid up share capital and investments through debentures received from several investors by Apollo Jewellery group of companies, which are defunct as on date, is around Rs 82.90 crore.

Charaparambil and other directors of several companies/firms in Apollo group of companies appear to have substantial interest/stake in Samana group of companies and they "diverted" the funds collected in the Apollo group by way of constructing hotels like -- Hotel Dimora in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. The hotels are in the name of Apollo Shopping Mall LLP and Trivandrum Apollo Builders Pvt., it said.

The searches led to the seizure of "incriminating" documents, electronic devices, documents of both the Dimora hotels, it said.

Four orders were issued under the PMLA to freeze bank deposits Rs 52.34 lakh (account maintained by Hotel Dimora Kozhikode) apart from Rs 27.49 lakh in cash, the ED said.