The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated assets worth around ₹31.2 crore of the key accused in the ₹2,000-crore Popular Finance scam that rocked Kerala in August last year.
The seized assets include jewellery worth ₹14 crore and vehicles valued at ₹2 crore. The rest of the assets are immovable properties in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh belonging to Thomas Daniel, managing director of the firm and Rinu Mariam, his daughter and chief executive officer.
The ED had arrested them following interrogation in the Kochi office of the agency on August 9. The Central agency had found that the accused had deposited abroad the money collected from people in violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They were also suspected to have floated shell companies to launder money.
Complaint filed
The Central Bureau of Investigation is also probing the scam involving the Konni-based non-banking financial company. The fraud came to light after the depositors filed a cheating complaint against Mr. Daniel for failing to repay the deposits. The company had collected about ₹2,000 crore from around 1,600 customers within and outside the country.
