The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday revealed that two Delhi-based cyber criminals misused Special Economic Zone (SEZ) facilities to send money worth more than Rs 4,900 crore abroad. Both the accused have been identified as Puneet Kumar alias Puneet Maheshwari alias John (resident of Moti Nagar) and Ashish Kakkar alias Pablo (resident of Greater Kailash). He was arrested by the federal agency last year.
ED said that on January 17, an order was issued to attach nine residential flats of these two in Delhi and a portion of agricultural land in Rewari, Haryana. The ED said it initiated investigation into the case after taking cognizance of several police FIRs lodged across the country against people involved in crimes like online gaming fraud, multi-level marketing schemes and investment scams. These include cases of job fraud, online shopping and fake loan distribution fraud through mobile apps. According to the agency, these scams were carried out through various fraudulent websites and apps such as upbitro.com and a betting website www.taj777.com. The app and website were created by companies based in island countries such as Curaçao, Malta and Cyprus.
More than 200 companies are registered in the names of both the accused.
The agency said that more than 200 companies registered in the names of the two accused were used to transfer the proceeds of crime. These firms were also registered in the names of their employees such as office boys, drivers and sanitation workers. The ED alleged that both the accused misused Special Economic Zone (SEZ) facilities by obtaining GST registration and related export-import permissions to move these proceeds of cyber crime out of India.
Money sent to Dubai, Hong Kong and China
The ED said the duo imported high-value goods like rose oil and solar panel machinery from Dubai, Hong Kong and China through special economic zones like Mundra and Kandla and remitted huge amounts of illicit foreign money abroad in exchange for the imports. . Subsequently, the same goods were re-exported (without any processing), but no money was received against the export, the ED said. The transaction involved importing the same goods multiple times and then exporting them to remit money abroad.
