By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Aug 5:
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted raids on Thursday and Friday on the premises of Puthenveettil Joseph Mathew (P J Mathew), Proprietor, “Mathew International”, in Mumbai and Kerala, in connection with multi-crore rupees fraud, involving recruitment of nurses for the Ministry of Health, Kuwait.
During the searches, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA), bank accounts with balance of Rs.76 lakh were freezed and documents of immovable properties at a total market value of Rs. 12 crore were seized. The action was taken based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Cochin (Kerala).
In 2015, P J Mathew and his son Thomas hatched a conspiracy with Mahmood Naina Prabhu, Proprietor, “Munavarra Associates”, Mumbai to recruit nurses for the Ministry of Health, Kuwait, by using the license fraudulently obtained by M/s Munavarra from Government of India. P J Mathew also obtained demand letters and authorisation letters from “Jezan International” and “Al-Amar Company”, Kuwait, in the name of M/s Munavarra for recruitment of nurses for Ministry of Health, Kuwait. Lawrence Adolphus, then Protector of Emigrants, Kochi had also stated to have joined the conspiracy.
P J Mathew and group conducted interviews in Cochin by collecting exorbitant charges of nearly Rs 20 lakh from every candidate, as against prescribed maximum limit of Rs 20,000/-. Thus the group cheated nursing emigrants and derived proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 205.71 crore. The amount collected from the nursing emigrants was sent to Kuwait by way of hawala transfer with the help of Mohammad Aslam of Ideal Forex Private Limited based in Ernakulam (Kerala).
Mathew was also under the scanner of the Income Tax Department which had seized Rs 4.55 crore in cash from his premises in April-May2025.
Similarly in March 2021, the ED had attached assets worth over Rs 7.5 crore of P J Mathew, Celine Mathew and Thomas Mathew in a money laundering case linked to cheating of 900 Kuwait-bound nurses. The ED had issued a provisional order for attaching a duplex flat in North West Mumbai’s Juhu area, a plot of land in Kerala and a Mercedes Benz car apart from Rs 4.55 crore in cash.
