CBI is probing cases of ponzi schemes in which over Rs 85,000 crore of over six crore investors are involved and it is assisting the Centre in framing a legislation to put a ban on such deposit-taking activities, agency Chief Anil Sinha said here on Friday.
“CBI alone is investigating cases in which more than six crore investors/victims spread across 26 states involving Rs 85,000 crores of public money. There are hundreds of criminal cases with state police and EOWs,” he said at the valedictory session of 22nd Conference of CBI and Anti-Corruption Bureaux of states. He also said the scope and reach of these fraudulent entities coming out with nefarious schemes to induce gullible public to invest in their dubious schemes is bewildering.
Earlier, during a conference in Mumbai in March, Sinha had said that the agency was investigating Ponzi schemes involving funds of over Rs 1.20 lakh crore. Officials in CBI claimed that figures often change because of allegations and later its cross verifications during the investigations.
Sinha said CBI was part of the sub-group of an Inter- Ministerial Group for identifying gaps in the existing legal and regulatory framework for ‘deposit-taking’ activities and to suggest administrative/legislative measures including formulation of a new law, to cover all relevant aspects of deposit-taking. “As we are all aware, a comprehensive central law titled the ‘Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors' Interests Bill, 2016’ is on the anvil,” he said.