Bengaluru, Oct 27: Industrialist-cum-whistleblower Alam Pasha has lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau seeking arrest of three persons, including IAS officer Harsh Gupta and Commercial Street Inspector of Police for alleged dereliction of duties with an ulterior aim to acquit IMA chief Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who is an accused in IMA scam.
Speaking to UNI, Pasha said Gupta, who was appointed by Karnataka government as Competent Authority (CA) on behalf of Revenue Department to retrieve the investors monies of more than Rs 4,000 crore and take action as per law against Khan and other accused in the case.
Giving background of the scam in his complaint, Pasha said Khan had floated a ponzi scheme offering investors dream returns on investments made in his firm called I Monetary Advisory Group.
Around October 2018, as many as 75,000 investors began complaining of the firm reneging on payments worth Rs 4,000 crore and the firm also had come under the RBI scanner, he said.
The firm was accused of siphoning off nearly Rs 4,000 crore of funds for the personal benefit of the owners of the firm, he said.
In June 2019, Khan absconded as police initiated a probe in the case. Before absconding, he had released an audio message for the police accusing then Congress MLA Roshan Baig for the fall of the firm, Pasha alleged.
Khan alleged Baig borrowed Rs 400 crore from the firm and failed to return it. He had also accused other politicians and officials of bleeding IMA resources, the complainant said.
After the scam became a major controversy, the then Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy ordered the creation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the IMA scam, he said.
Khan was arrested by the ED at Delhi airport in July 2019. In October 2020, he was granted bail by Karnataka High Court, Pasha said.
Gupta, the complainant said, has failed to take action as per law to book IMA culprits to meet the purpose of his appointment to retrieve the monies of the investors from them.
He said the CA has failed in his duty to direct the Inspector of Police to file FIRs against the IMA culprits so that the victims of the scam get back their monies, which they had invested in nine of the companies owned by Khan.
"Unless the police file FIRs against the IMA culprits, no court in the country shall be able to deliver the verdict in favour of the victims. Filing FIRs is the first step towards providing relief to the victims," he said.
The CA also has failed in his duties to seek the intervention of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to investigate serious frauds committed by IMA Group of companies so that the investigation is carried out without depending on police and their investigation, Pasha said.
The IMA group of companies fall under the purview of the Companies Act 2013 as they are not financial establishments, Pasha said.
Also, the CA has been appointed under section 5 of the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Act 2004, who enjoys powers to initiate an investigation into the financial establishments, but IMA Group of companies are full-blown firms, Pasha said.
"So, knowing that he has to depend on the investigation of the police, the CA is well within his rights to seek the intervention of the Ministry of Corporate Companies to conduct investigations under SFIO rules. If he is sincere and genuine, he would have asked for the SFIO probe," he said.
"It is very clear that the CA and the police officer are working in favour of the accused, namely Khan, rather than giving relief to the IMA victims, who are waiting for retrieval of their money. In these circumstances, I had approached the ACB and lodged a complaint seeking arrest of the three accused," Pasha said.
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