Mumbai, November 8: Nowhera Shaikh, managing director of investment firm Heera Gold, blamed demonetisation and imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for non-payment of dividends to investors. Nowhera Shaikh was arrested in connection with the Heera Gold scam after more than 150 people from Mumbai, and other parts of the country accused her of cheating them.

During interrogation, entrepreneur-politician Nowheera Shaikh said that she was forced to stop paying monthly dividends after losses from note ban in November 2016 and the implementation of the GST regime in July 2017. She said that she had been paying out dividends for nearly a decade, but stopped payments since early 2017.

An officer associated with the case told Indian Express that Shaikh had promised her investors to pay quarterly dividends in May 2017, but she stopped payments since early this year. She confidently asked investigators to check her bank statements to verify her claims, the officer added. She is heading 15 companies under different names under the Heera Group of companies.

Nowhera Shaikh was first arrested by the Hyderabad police on October 16. The arrest was made during the investigations into a case booked against her at Banja Hills police station in Hyderabad for cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal intimidation. The Heera Group would give 36 per cent to 42 per cent profit to investors from buying and selling of gold.

After she was released on bail by a court, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police arrested her on October 26. She also floated All India Mahila Empowerment Party, which contested recent assembly elections Karnataka but drew a blank. On October 23, a case was registered against Ms Shaikh and officials of Heera Gold Exim Ltd, Heera Retail Pvt Ltd, Heera Textiles and Heera Foodex in Mumbai.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 08, 2018 07:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).