Mumbai: Special dept. to distribute Rs 3,000 crore to fraud victims

The cell will return over Rs 3000 crore to thousands of victims within a year File PicMonday blues Heres some good news The Economic Offences Wing EOW of the Mumbai police is nearly ready with a refund cell which will return money to the victims of financial and whitecollar crimes those duped in many Ponzi and investment schemes The EOW plans to return over Rs 3000 crore to thousands of people within a year a senior police officer told middayAccording to a court order a fullfledged dedicated cell is being established and will be functional within a week to ensure refund of money to investors The cell would have an office computers and other equipment and manpower to ensure zero error in coordination with multiple parties during the process of returning the funds to victims The idea is to make the process a onewindow systemAlso read From Mumbai to Delhi Master conman Chandrashekhar strikes againThe cell will ensure timely and systematic refund of money to investors in a wellcoordinated and transparent manner said Ashutosh Dumbre joint commissioner of police EOWThe functioning of the cell will be supervised and headed by an ACP rank officer at least six officers and constabulary under the officerLegal wranglesAs per the law the investigating officer IO of a case during the probe identifies movable and immovable assets that the accused acquired from the money earned through fraudulent practices The IO collects strong evidence to support this and then approaches court requesting attachment of the properties in question The court then appoints an authority mostly a deputy collector to auction the properties and then directs the investigating agency to distribute the money collected through the auction to the investors an EOW officer saidAlso read Mumbai Crime Close aide of Ponzi family held for duping cops doctorsEOW earlier a part of the Mumbai crime branch and now an independent wing is investigating hundreds of financial frauds and Ponzi schemes Most of the cases have now reached the refund stage many are MPID Act Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors Act cases and at least a decade old A few cases are as old as from the 90sAn EOW inspector said that in most of the MPID Act cases during 200010 refund to investors got delayed due to a legal battle over the Acts validityOn September 5 2005 the Bombay High Court had declared the Act unconstitutional saying that it was outside the competence of the Maharashtra legislature to enact it as banking was in the Union List under the Constitution In May 2011 the Supreme Court set aside HCs judgment and declared MPID Act validSystematic distributionWhile investigating many cases we came across victims from poor financial background who had invested by mortgaging their valuables and properties with some even taking loans Investment frauds have shattered many lives Giving refunds to these people after years may bring back their trust in the system an EOW officer saidAlso read Ponzi schemer who duped Mumbai cops of Rs 22 crores arrestedSenior EOW officers have prepared a standard operating procedure for the cells functioning To ensure smooth distribution of funds and avoid crowding investors of two scams will be contacted at a time and given appointments to visit the cell with their documents and a cancelled cheque Once the documents are verified the money will be deposited in their bank accounts In cases where 100 per cent recovery has not been done victims will get refunds as per their investment The cell will start with giving back money to the victims of old cases