The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai has frozen the operating accounts of 63 moons (formerly Financial Technologies). The Jignesh Shah-promoted company has been under investigative agencies’ scanner ever since its subsidiary National Spot Exchange failed to settle trades worth ₹5,600 crore executed on its platform in 2013.
The EoW has directed the company to route all its income into an escrow account and use it for expenses, sources said.
Reacting to the development, 63 moons in a statement said the action is barbaric, unethical and motivated and it fails to understand the reason for such action against the company when there is no linkage to proceeds of crime.
Not a single defaulter’s operating accounts has been frozen to whom the entire money trail has been established, said a spokesperson of the company.
The entire action has been done at the behest of an invisible hand which is trying to derail the investigation from the right track, he added.
The move will affect about 1,000 employees and their families, over 800 clients using about 25 lakh ODIN licenses on five lakh terminals and in turn affect 10 lakh jobs in stock and commodity exchanges and over 200 vendors.
FTIL fully cooperated with the agencies when they froze bonds worth ₹1,800 crore which had no link to proceeds of crime. This has been challenged in the High Court and the matter is sub judice , he said.
“They have taken all kinds of illegal actions against FTIL and the only action left now is to cut both water and power connection to the company,” said FTIL.