The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday revealed that two Delhi-based “cyber criminals” siphoned off more than ₹4,900 crore abroad by “misusing” special economic zone (SEZ) facilities.
The accused, Punit Kumar alias Puneet Maheshwari alias John, a resident of Moti Nagar, and Ashish Kakkar alias Pablo, from Greater Kailash, were arrested last year in connection with the case.
On January 17, the ED issued a provisional order to attach nine residential flats in Delhi and a parcel of agricultural land in Rewari, Haryana, belonging to the duo and their families.
The investigation began after the ED took cognisance of multiple police FIRs filed across the country against individuals involved in crimes like online gaming fraud, multi-level marketing schemes, investment scams, part-time job frauds, and fake loan disbursal frauds through mobile apps.
The scams were allegedly executed through fraudulent websites and apps such as upbitro.com (masquerading as the original upbit.com) and a betting platform www.taj777.com, operated by companies registered in island nations like Curacao, Malta, and Cyprus.
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The agency disclosed that over 200 companies, registered in the names of the accused and their employees—such as office boys, drivers, and sweepers—were used to “layer” the proceeds of crime. The employees’ signatures were allegedly misused to operate the firms and linked bank accounts.
To transfer the proceeds of cybercrime abroad, the accused allegedly exploited SEZ facilities by securing GST registrations and export-import permissions. They imported “over-valued” goods, such as rose oil and solar panel machinery, with prices inflated up to 5,000 times, through SEZs like Mundra and Kandla from Dubai, Hong Kong, and China. These transactions enabled “huge illegal outward foreign remittances” against imports.
The same goods were then re-exported without processing, but no remittances were received for the exports. According to the ED, the goods were repeatedly imported and exported in circular transactions to siphon off money abroad.
Through these operations, Punit Kumar and Ashish Kakkar reportedly laundered Rs 4,978 crore obtained from cyber fraud, the ED stated.
(With inputs from PTI)
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