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ED chargesheets Pearls Group in Rs 48K cr ponzi scam (Lead)
New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a charge- sheet against Pearls Group and its chief Nirmal Singh Bhangoo in connection with a ponzi scam involving over Rs 48,000 crore.
Apart from Bhangoo, who is in judicial custody, three of his colleagues and several of his commission agents have also been named in the ED chargesheet filed in a special court here under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED, which started the probe after lodging an FIR in 2015 based on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s case, had in January attached Australia-based assets of Pearls Group and Bhangoo worth Rs 472 crore.
The CBI had arrested Bhangoo and his three colleagues in 2016 following allegations that they collected funds from investors in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states through ponzi schemes, in the name of real estate projects.
Bhangoo, his companies PACL and PGFL, as well as lakhs of his commission agents were accused of cheating 5.5 crore investors on the pretext of sale and development of agriculture land.
The companies made false allotments of land to investors even though they did not own any land in their own name.
Bhangoo and his companies promised the investors that allotment would be done on their investment between 90 and 270 days and if not, handsome returns would be paid.
The ED said the promoters and directors of PACL and PGFL collected more than Rs 48,000 crore of funds from investors all over the country through a collective investment scheme in the garb of sale and development of agriculture land. Earlier the amount was estimated over Rs 45,000 crore.
“Of the total funds, PACL invested Rs 164 crore in Pearls Infrastructure Projects Limited (PIPL) for acquiring 25.37 per cent shares and the remaining 74.63 per cent shares of PIPL were acquired indirectly by PACL through its 43 front companies for an investment of Rs 493.18 crore. In total, PIPL received Rs 657.18 crore from PACL during 2009 to 2014,” said an ED statement.
The statement said that the PIPL, an associate company of PACL, further invested Rs 147.38 crore in 2010 for acquiring 50 shares of Australian firm Miiresorts Group 1 Pty Ltd, and Rs 459.23 crore from 2009 to 2014 for acquiring 99.24 shares of another Australian firm Miigroup Holdings Pty Ltd.
“Miigroup further invested Rs 147.38 crore in Miiresorts for acquiring 50 per cent of shares. An amount of Rs 25.07 crore was remitted to Australia to Hicky Lawyers Trust for purchase of immovable property (Sanctuary Cove Properties).
“In May 2010, Miiresorts, out of the funds received, purchased Sheraton Mirage Hotel in approximately AUS $62.5 million and sold it to Australian Wattle Development Pty Ltd in AUS 87.37 million equivalent to Rs 447 crore by the order of the Federal Court of Australia,” the statement said.
The Miiresorts and Miigroup are controlled by Bhangoo and his family members.
–IANS
rak/mag/sed
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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