Pearl probe: CBI to send team to Australia

The CBI is likely to send a team of its officials to Australia in connection with its ongoing probe against promoters of two real estate companies — Pearl Agrotech Corpora-tion Ltd and Pearls Golden Forest Ltd. Investigations by the CBI, sources said, have revealed that the suspected firms allegedly invested around Rs 600 crores in Australia. It is suspected that the accused firms alle-gedly raised investments, worth Rs 45,000 crores, from over 5.6 crore gullible investors through collective investment scheme under the garb of sale and development of agricultural land.

It is suspected that the accused firms and their promoters may have used the investors’ money to buy assets in several other countries also. The agency is now planning to send a team to Australia to probe the matter further, sources said. The CBI is also taking assistance of the ED and the income-tax department in its probe, they added. The CBI on January 8 arrested chairman-cum-MD of Pearls Group Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and three other top officials of the group in connection with its ongoing investigations against them.

The CBI had last year booked the duo and six others on charges of allegedly duping investors through their ponzi schemes by promising agriculture land to the depositors. The agency had earlier registered a preliminary enquiry to probe into allegations that the accused company had collected crores of rupees through deposits from the public at large through their ponzi scheme promising agricultural land. The PE was registered on the directions of the SC. The Securities and Exchange Board of India had also raised concerns over legality of the operations of the firm since it was running a collective investment scheme in the garb of a real estate company.