Bengaluru businessman accused in mobile app fraud case in ED custody

BENGALURU: Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Thursday arrested city-based businessman Anas Ahmed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in a case involving fraud committed through Power Bank and other mobile applications, wherein investments from mobile users were illegally accepted against higher rate of interest and they were later cheated.
A special court for PMLCA in Bengaluru granted six-day police custody of Ahmed to ED.He was in judicial custody at Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, and had been arrested by Chennai Criminal Investigation Department (CID) earlier.
In the same case, CID sleuths had, in June 2021, arrested nine persons, including the Chinese wife of Ahmed, for being involved in the Rs 290-crore money-laundering racket. Ahmed was among the suspects named in the FIR and had evaded arrest. Later, he succeeded in getting interim bail.
A press note from ED read: “We initiated money-laundering investigation into operations of the accused entities that induced the public to invest certain amounts through Power Bank and other such fraudulent apps by promising to remit interest on daily or weekly basis on the investment made. The accused entities closed their purported business after collecting huge sums of money from the gullible public and went incommunicado. They neither paid interest nor returned the principal amount to the public and withheld the investment, which amounted to cheating.”
It added: “Ahmed is partner in two accused firms — H and S Ventures and Clifford Ventures — which collected approximately Rs 84 crore from the public. He has Chinese links and is the suspected kingpin of the racket. Ahmed indulged in corrupt and illegal activities through his partnership firms by deviating from the declared line of business/activity of gaming...” The proceeds generated through the criminal activities were routed out through shell entities and invested in cryptocurrencies.