The Vigilance Bureau (VB) Punjab on Thursday arrested absconding accused Prem Kaur, wife of Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, managing director of Pearls Golden Forest (PGF) Ltd.
An official spokesman said Kaur was booked in the case for alienating properties of chit fund company Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) Limited and its subsidiaries in Punjab and authorising a close associate to alienate or sell the properties of PACL Ltd in violation of the Supreme Court order.
The spokesman said the Bureau had arrested accused Prem Kaur, resident of House No. 2138, Phase VII, SAS Nagar, in a case registered on 16 July 2020 under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC at Zira city police station, Ferozepur. She hasn’t joined the investigation in this case and is absconding, he said.
Kaur also remained a director in many group companies of PACL. Her husband Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, managing director of PGF Ltd, has already been booked by the CBI in the PACL Ltd ponzi scam involving Rs 50,000 crore invested by about five crore gullible investors from various states, including Punjab.
A high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Justice (retd) RM Lodha had been constituted as per the Supreme Court order to sell the properties of PACL Ltd and use the proceeds to refund the innocent investors who had invested their hard-earned money in this chit fund company.
The spokesperson said Prem Kaur was instrumental in alienating properties of PACL Ltd and its subsidiaries in Punjab and authorised a close associate to sell properties of PACL Ltd in violation of the Supreme Court’s order dated July 25, 2016, restraining the sale or transfer of any of the properties owned by PACL in any manner within or outside India.
The Pearl Group had allegedly cheated many people in different parts of the country by illegally running various investment schemes. Before coming to power, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had promised during his election campaign that after the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government, the hard-earned money of the Ponzi scam victims would be returned by confiscating the assets of chit fund companies.
