Fresh ray of hope for investors who lost money in IMA scam

Thousands of investors who lost their hard-earned money in the IMA Ponzi scam four years ago could get some of it back as early as October. Government authorities are preparing to disburse nearly Rs 70 crore. 

IMA, a so-called Halal investment company, went bust in June 2019 after its founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan fled to Dubai. The Bengaluru-headquartered company owed its 63,000 investors Rs 2,600 crore. Many influential people, including senior politicians and bureaucrats, were allegedly involved in the scam. 

The state government set up a special officer and competent authority to recover investors’ money. The authority has seized IMA’s movable and immovable assets valued at Rs 450 crore. It has so far settled the claims of 6,800 investors whose dues were less than Rs 50,000 by paying them Rs 19.62 crore. It is set to repay another Rs 69.46 crore. The money was generated from the auction of IMA’s movable assets such as jewellery, cars and electronic devices. 

During a hearing before the 91st Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Sridhar Gopalakrishna Bhat on September 19, the competent authority presented a mathematical formula for disbursing Rs 69.46 crore to over 55,000 depositors. 

“We will follow the equitable principle of money disbursal. All depositors will be covered, irrespective of the size of their investment,” Amlan Aditya Biswas, the competent authority, told DH. 

According to the special public prosecutor, investors have been categorised into the least affected and the most affected. An investor who has received 90% of the money will be considered the least affected. Similarly, an investor who hasn’t received anything will be the most affected. “The most affected will get more than the least affected,” the SPP said. 

The court will pronounce its order on October 3. “Based on the court order, we will be able to disburse the money to all investors in 15 days, by the end of October,” a source said. The authority has verified the KYC documents of the claimants and sent them SMSs, the source added. 

The authority expects to receive another Rs 350-375 crore by auctioning the company’s immovable assets. However, the process will take time because those assets have also been attached by the Directorate of Enforcement. 

The authority will move a fresh application before the ED court for permission to auction IMA’s immovable assets once charges are framed, the SPP added. 

Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad said the CBI and the EDI had “failed” to prosecute the mighty and recover investors’ money from them because many switched political loyalties. 

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Department of School Education and Literacy has agreed to withdraw a court case pertaining to VK Obaidullah School, Shivajinagar, and return Rs 12-13 crore to the competent authority, according to Arshad. 

IMA had “adopted” the government-run school by spending investors’ money. While the government took the school back after the scam surfaced, it declined to return the money to the competent authority. It has changed its stance now.