New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has carried out searches at 10 locations in Gujarat’s Surat at the premises of Ojasvi Foundation and Ojasvi AI and other persons and entities in connection with the FEMA violation case.

The ED said that Ojasvi Foundationconducted illegal speculative trading in foreign exchange, and funds worth Rs 150 crorehave been transacted through Hawala for the purpose of illegal forex trading abroad.

The ED said that it carried out searches at 10 locations in Surat on November 7 and 8 as part of investigation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Ojasvi Foundation, Ojasvi AI and other connected persons or entities.

According to the ED, Ojasvi Foundation having its registered address at Surat, was involved in illegal (speculative) forex trading on a trading platform based in Dubai by the name of Winsor Fx and a huge volume of forex trading was done through the platform Ojasvi AI.

“It was found that Ojasvi Foundation has multiple businesses in the form of real estate, restaurant, hotels, yacht and other AI platforms, etc.,” the financial probe agency said in a statement.

The ED said that Ojasvi Foundation conducted illegal speculative trading in foreign exchange and had lured over 8,500 individuals to invest in their forex trading system under MLM Scheme for more benefits.

“Search operations have revealed that funds to the tune of more than Rs 150 crore have been transacted through Hawala for the purpose of illegal forex trading abroad which is a contravention under Section 3 of FEMA, 1999,” the ED said.

The ED said that during its searches, cash to the tune of Rs 1.33 crore, foreign currencies worth more than Rs 3 lakh, evidence relating to illegal forex transactions (Hawala) worth more than eight lakh USDT (Digital currency working on blockchain technology, similar to crypto-currency, pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio), equivalent to Rs 6.7 crore, various incriminating documents or digital records relating to illegal forex transactions were recovered and seized.