New Delhi: Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer, son-in-law of the late Pearls Group founder Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, has been arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged role in the Rs 48,000 crore PACL Ponzi scheme — one of India’s biggest investment frauds.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hayer was actively involved in managing PACL’s business operations after Bhangoo’s arrest by the CBI in 2016. He, along with his wife Barinder Kaur and mother-in-law Prem Kaur, floated several new companies under the names of relatives and domestic workers to mask ownership and continue illicit activities. Bhangoo passed away in August 2023. PACL, a subsidiary of the Pearls Group, allegedly defrauded over 5.5 crore investors through a network of 2.3 million agents, luring them with promises of agricultural plots and high returns.
The ED revealed that Hayer was a director in PACL-associated Australian entities—Pearls Australasia Pty Ltd and Australasia Mirage I-Pty Ltd—through which Rs 657.18 crore was siphoned off and invested in real estate in Australia. These actions were in direct violation of a 2016 Supreme Court order that restrained the sale or transfer of PACL assets.
In response, ED has already attached assets worth Rs 462 crore in Australia and Rs 244 crore in India. The details of these properties have been submitted to the Justice RM Lodha Committee, which was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee asset disposal and refund money to defrauded investors. A chargesheet had earlier been filed in 2021 in a Zira court following an FIR in Ferozepur in 2020. Fifty-five individuals, including family members and company executives, have been booked for cheating, conspiracy, and other IPC offences.
The arrest marks a significant development in India’s ongoing crackdown on financial fraud and corporate scams.