ED summons K'taka minister ZA Khan in IMA Ponzi scheme case

New Delhi: The ED has summoned Karnataka Cabinet Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan in connection with the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Ponzi scheme that surfaced earlier this month in Bengaluru, sources here said on Friday.

They added that the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies in the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government is to appear before agency officials within a week.

The Enforcement Directorate recently filed a money-laundering against IMA, taking cognizance of a case filed by Bengaluru City Police, where around 40,000 members of the public were unknowingly duped into investing in the company with the promise of high returns.

The BJP unit of Karnataka had earlier demanded a CBI probe into the IMA case, raising questions about the Congress leader, Zameer Khan's, alleged connection to Mansoor Khan, CEO of the company. Responding to these allegations, Zameer Khan had claimed that it was he who had asked for SIT to probe the case in the first place.

Earlier in the day, the ED had attached nearly Rs 209 crore worth properties of the IMA group, including 51 bank accounts with an accumulative balance of Rs 98 lakh and one other bank account with Rs 11 crore, allegedly deposited under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan deposit scheme.

ED investigations so far have revealed that IMA was running a Ponzi scheme, working under directions of the Managing Director and CEO Mohammed Mansoor Khan, to defraud investors. The ED has alleged that the IMA Group was not doing any business that could enable it to pay the promised returns to investors.

Based on an analysis of around 105 bank accounts of the group, the central probe agency has alleged that IMA collected around Rs 4,000 crore from unsuspecting investors, most of whom were Muslim, because of the company's "halal" investment scheme.

The probe agency has further alleged that the company along with Mansoor Khan and other directors, generated proceeds of crimes with this fund. The ED has identified 20 such properties that are part of the proceeds of crime, issuing a provisional attachment order for all of them.

The case first came to light when earlier this month, Mansoor Khan had released an audio clip, threatening to kill himself, which led to panicked investors lining-up outside IMA's offices in Shivajinagar. He had also claimed that Congress MLA from

Shivajinagar, Roshan Baig had taken Rs 400 crore from him and not returned it.

Mansoor Khan had subsequently, repeatedly asserted on social media that he was willing to pay investors and that he would as long as they had the patience to wait. He has been absconding since the case came up and is believed to have fled to Dubai.