Kozhikode: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed a Morris coin fraud worth Rs 1,200 crore during the raids conducted by the agency at 11 places across the country including three in Kerala.
The raids in Kerala were carried out in Malappuram, Palakkad and Kochi. In Palakkad, the ED conducted the raid at a cinema company belonging to prominent Malayalam actor Unni Mukundan.
The raid was conducted as a certain sum was deposited in the actor's bank account by the prime accused in the Morris coin scam Nishad.
Meanwhile, the actor informed that the sum was deposited as advance payment for a film to be produced by Nishad.
"I am not aware of the allegations raised against Nishad. The money was deposited in my account as advance payment for a film," Umnni Mukundan said.
The actor’s father, however, maintained that the ED officials had come to their place on a courtesy visit and a discussion on cinema.
During the ED raid it was also found that the Morris Coin fraud was being run by a Bengaluru-based racket. Besides establishments in Bengaluru, the ED carried out the search across 11 centres in Chennai, Coimbatore and Delhi.
The fraud had taken place at the Bengaluru-based establishments like Longreach Global and Morris Trading Solutions.
According to the developers, Morris Coin is a cryptocurrency developed using Blockchain technology. However, authorities have clarified that Morris coin is not listed in any of the exchanges making it impossible to trade.
It has been discovered that many Keralites were cheated off crores of rupees with the promise of providing attractive returns through investment in Morris coin.
Though the victims of the fraud had submitted complaints in various police stations, there has not been no effective investigation yet.
The ED entered the scene after many disillusioned complainants notified the agency of the Ponzi scheme.
After the arrest of Kannur native Nishad, many transactions under the wraps were unearthed. Nishad, Managing Director of Longreach Technologies, was arrested on October 2020 for operating a multi-layer Ponzi scheme which collected Rs 15,000 people from over 11 lakh people to invest in Morris coin.
