New Delhi: Bollywood Actor Tamannaah Bhatia was examined by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. Sources told Times Now that Bhatia was examined at ED Guwahati Zonal Office. Notably, the money laundering case stems from the ongoing probe in the HPZ Token matter.
Sources told Times Now the actor is not an accused in the case. Bhatia appeared in an event of HPZ Token, for which she was paid an "appearance fee", the sources added. Her statement was recorded for two hours.
"ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima (Nagaland) under various sections of IPC, 1860 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in relation to duping of gullible investors, in the garb of promise of astronomic returns on investing money for “mining of Bitcoin and other Crypto Currencies mining”, for which an App based Token by the name of “HPZ Token” was used," the federal agency said in a statement in August
ED investigations revealed that in a similar manner, thousands of investors have been duped. "The modus operandi of the fraudsters was to first lure the victims to invest in the company in the pretext of doubling their investment through the app HPZ Token and also through online gaming and betting websites," the ED said
As per the ED, In order to receive investments, various bank accounts and Merchant IDs were opened in the name of various shell entities having dummy directors/proprietors, only for the purpose of rotation/layering of proceeds of crime representing funds fraudulently received for investment in Crypto Mining and illegal online gaming and betting platforms.
Details Of ED Investigation:
"For an investment of Rs. 57,000/- returns of Rs. 4,000 per day for 3 months were promised. Initially, returns were paid to gain the confidence of investors and simultaneous lucrative offers of fresh investments were proposed leading to more investments by gullible investors," the probe agency said.
Thereafter, the funds so collected were siphoned off. The scam was allegedly started in June 2021 and by 15 August 2021, the “HPZ App” and related websites became inaccessible.
"The present action of attachment of proceeds of crime is in continuation of earlier action when ED Dimapur Sub Zonal Office had conducted searches at 44 locations throughout the country and frozen balances totalling to Rs.176.67 Crore maintained by shell entities in various banks/virtual accounts and attached assets worth Rs. 278.70 Crore. So far, the total proceeds of crime froze and attached by ED in this case is Rs. 497.20 Crore," the ED had said in a statement in August.