Thrissur: The court has confirmed the seizure of assets worth Rs 212.5 crore belonging to Highrich. In the Highrich money chain fraud case, assets worth Rs 212.5 crore belonging to the accused and the company were temporarily seized. This action was taken on an application filed by the Buds Authority. The action of the Thrissur District Buds Court was upheld by the Thrissur Third Additional Court. This is the first time in the state that the court has directly inspected the website in a financial fraud case and confirmed the seizure of assets under the Buds Act.
During the trial, the court directly opened and examined Hyrich’s website. Last November, the BDS Authority froze the company’s bank accounts, alleging that the company had received unauthorized deposits of Rs. 10,000 in the name of ‘Purchase Consignment Advance’, as well as Rs. 5 lakh in the name of OTT Bonds. Later, on the complaint filed by former MLA Anil Akka, the Enforcement Directorate registered a case and arrested and remanded Heirich Udama Pratap. The ED case is in the trial stage after filing a chargesheet in the Kochi PMLA court.
The Thrissur Buds Court had upheld the Buds Authority’s delay in the timely submissions. However, Heirich approached the High Court against this. The High Court set aside the Buds Court’s decision following a plea by the Authority that the property was found to have been found 12 days late in filing the application for confirmation. The Buds Authority has once again frozen bank accounts after a consultation on the matter revealed that there was no time to take new measures. Although this was challenged in the Supreme Court, the court did not intervene. The High Court subsequently directed the Buds Court to decide on the bank account conversion process. The decision of the Thrissur Third Additional Sessions Court follows on from this.
