Economic Offences Wing freezes 25 accounts in SIES fraud case

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which is investigating the South Indian Education Society (SIES) trust cheating case, has frozen the 25 bank accounts in which the money was deposited.

The police have also summoned Andheri hotelier Mohammad Fasih whose account was used for depositing money. The police say that the fraud amounts to Rs58 crore.

"We have frozen 25 bank accounts in which the fraud money was deposited and have also issued summons to Mohammad Fasih whose account was also used for depositing the money. Fasih is not yet an accused in the case. His account of the Showman Group has also been frozen. We will investigate why the money was transferred into his account," an EOW officer said.

Giving details about the case, the officer said, "The mastermind of the fraud, Anil Pawar, a former senior manager with India Infoline, had approached the SIES office claiming to be a financial advisor. He induced SIES officials with the promise of better returns if they invested money in fixed deposits (FDs) in nationalised banks through him. The unsuspecting SIES officials fell into the trap." Pawar has been arrested.

The officials gave the related documents to Pawar who passed them on to one Roy Joseph Thomas, a Colaba resident. A copy of the FDs made at five banks were given to the SIES office.

Pawar and his associates then submitted bogus resolutions of the SIES trust to open overdraft accounts. Interestingly, the address given for these overdraft accounts is an office at Heera Panna mall in Oshiwara.

These accounts were utilised to transfer money to other accounts in the names of different companies, the officer explained.

The fraud came to light in May after one of the banks informed SIES about the overdraft facility taken on the FDs. The police suspect the involvement of some bank officials in the fraud.

The case
The South Indian Education Society has been cheated of about Rs58 crore by fraudsters who lured trust officials to invest in fixed deposits in some nationalised banks and created overdraft accounts to transfer the funds.