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NRI among three held for £80 million scam

London: A non-resident Indian businessman and two of his British accomplices have been arrested here on charges of duping over 600 people, including celebrities like the former cricketer, Darren Gough, and singer Jerome Flynn, to the tune of £80 million in a ‘Ponzi’ scam.

The mastermind of the scheme Chelsea-based Indian entrepreneur Nandan Pruthi and his business partners Kenneth Peacock and John Anderson were arrested after a series of raids conducted by the London police in the city, The Observer newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has frozen assets of Mr. Pruthi. Sports cars, jewellery and £2,50,000 in cash are among assets police and the FSA have managed to recover from Mr. Pruthi and his colleagues, though their value is less than £two million.

There has been some speculation that money may have been salted away in Dubai, the Cayman islands or Thailand.

A 1960s pop singer, as yet unnamed, is also among the victims while cricketer Kevin Pietersen has confirmed that he was approached by the suspected fraudsters but he decided not to hand over any of his money. — PTI

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