Mumbai: Chartered accountant Amber Dalal, who was arrested last year for alleged investment fraud of Rs 564 crore, operated 42 bank accounts opened in the name of his family members, according to the Enforcement Directorate’s prosecution complaint. These accounts were used to park investor funds to the tune of Rs 564 crore, the complaint said.
ED Submits Its Prosecution Complainant
The ED submitted its prosecution complainant against Dalal and his associate Rashmi Prasad last week. Special PMLA judge AC Daga accepted the complaint observing: “Both accused persons appear to be involved in this process of money laundering and ultimately tried to make tainted money untainted.”
The ED has claimed that Dalal, proprietor of Ritz Consultancy Services, told clients that he was investing in arbitrage and commodity market, and promised them monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%. Dalal is accused of collecting investments from more than 2,000 individuals to the tune of Rs 564 crore. He allegedly diverted these funds for personal and unrelated uses, the ED alleged.
The agency further claimed that the funds were routed through multiple bank accounts belonging to Dalal, his family members and associates and were layered to disguise their origin. The ED has found around 42 such bank accounts. Besides, the ED claimed that a significant portion of the funds was used to purchase properties in the name of family members and Rs 15.04 crore was diverted to Prasad.
ED prosecutor Arvind A Aghav pointed out that although Dalal collected funds from investors, he was neither a registered broker / sub-broker registered with the SEBI nor was authorised to accept investments. He further said that Dalal used funds collected from investors to cover his losses in stock market trading. He used to provide the investors with cheques without date of equivalent amount of the investment promising them that their capital is safe, and the investor can redeem the cheque whenever they want to withdraw investment.
