The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of P.J. Mathew, Celine Mathew and Thomas Mathew, valued at ₹7.51 crore in connection with the nurses recruitment scam.
The ED booked the case by invoking the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked a case against L. Adolphus. Protector of Emigrants, Kochi; Mr. Mathew of Mathew International, Mumbai; and Mohammed Naina Prabhu of Munavvara Associates, Mumbai; in the recruitment scam.
It was revealed during the investigation that Mr. Mathew and others had recruited more than 900 nurses to Kuwait after collecting a service charge ranging between ₹18 lakh and ₹20 lakh from each applicant against the stipulated service charge of ₹20,000. The investigation revealed that the company thus illegally collected ₹205.71 crore from the applicants, according to a communication from official sources.
Investigations revealed that the amount collected from the candidates was sent to Kuwait by way of hawala money transfer with the help of Mohammad Aslam of Ideal Forex that which was functioning from a shopping complex at Marine Drive in Kochi, the communication said.
The ED attached a duplex flat in Mumbai, which was in the name of Celine Mathew, a two-cent holding in Ampalapuzha in the name of Thomas Mathew, a Mercedes Benz car in the name of Mr. Mathew, and also ₹4.55 crore, which was sized during an Income Tax raid held in 2015, the communication said.
