The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress MLA and sitting minister in Karnataka BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan in the IMA Ponzi scam case. He has been alleged to have received the funds from accused Mansoor Khan, who has fled the country fearing death from the hands of influential and well-connected people in India.
#ShariatPonziScandal | MEGA TIMES NOW IMPACT: ED summons sitting Karnataka Congress Minister in the IMA Ponzi scam. He allegedly received funds from the accused.
TIMES NOW had run the story on June 11.TIMES NOW’s @HeenaGambhir & @bhavatoshsingh with more details. pic.twitter.com/slxaIXMmJh
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 28, 2019
As per the reports, there are other sitting MLAs named in the investigation who can be summoned by the ED as well. The Congress government in Karnataka had given this whole IMA Ponzi Scam a clean chit in January this year, despite alarms indicating that a scam was brewing. The preliminary investigation points towards the involvement of HDK cabinet ministers in the IMA Ponzi Scam.
Many ministers of Karnataka government are alleged to have been beneficiaries of this Rs 5000 crore scam in which over 50,000 investors were duped. Earlier this month, 7 of the IMA Jewels were arrested by the Karnataka police.
Enforcement Directorate has also initiated action against IMA Group and its Managing Director, Mohammed Mansoor Khan and has attached 20 immovable properties and bank accounts amounting to Rs 209 Crore under Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).
ED attaches under PMLA, 20 immovable properties and balances in Bank A/cs totaling to ₹209 Crore of IMA Group, Bengaluru and its Managing Director Mohammed Mansoor Khan, in a Ponzi Scheme case. pic.twitter.com/h8XKoSjSLN
— ED (@dir_ed) June 28, 2019
The founder and managing director of IMA jewels, Mohammad Mansoor Khan had suddenly gone missing on June 11, after an audio clip where he claimed he is ending his life due to financial distress went viral. Following this, many investors went to Khan’s office only to find it shut.
Moreover, in the audio clip released then, Khan accused senior Congress MLA Roshan Baig of arm twisting and refusing to return the Rs 400 crore which he had allegedly taken after he failed to get a Lok Sabha ticket for the recently concluded elections. Khan has also contended that he is being constantly hounded by many politicians and government officers who had taken money from him.
In his video-recorded message to Bengaluru commissioner Alok Kumar, Mansoor Khan asserted that he was ready to return to India and expose those responsible for the downfall of his business venture. Khan stated that because the actual culprits behind the scam are “big names at the state and central levels”, there was every possibility of him being killed as soon as he sets foot in India.
Recently, there were reports that the RBI had in a 2018 letter revealed the inaction of the JD(S)-Congress led Karnataka government against IMA jewels. The RBI had reportedly written a letter in November 2018 directing the Karnataka state government to launch an investigation into IMA jewels, a ‘halal’ investment group. However, the Karnataka Congress-JDS government ignored RBI warning and did not act against the ‘halal’ investment group.
The IMA group promised its investor that it is investing in businesses that are sanctioned as ‘halal’ under Sharia law. For instance, the ‘Sharia’ reportedly does not permit investments in companies that deal with banking and insurance, pork, gambling or entertainment.
