Investors hope to recover funds after Heera units auction

Hundreds of UAE residents who lost money in the collapsed Heera Group investment schemes are closely watching developments in India after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced the auction of 40 properties linked to the group and its founder Nowhera Shaikh later this month.

- Mazhar Farooqui

The properties, attached under India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act, will be sold through a government-run e-auction platform on December 26, according to an auction catalogue issued on Tuesday by MSTC, a government-run auction platform.

The assets include commercial buildings, residential flats, shops, office spaces, open land and agricultural plots spread across Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana, as well as Mumbai and Bengaluru.

For UAE-based investors, many of whom were among the earliest contributors to the scheme, the auction has brought a sense of relief after years of legal limbo. The Heera Group had aggressively marketed its “interest-free” investment plans to Gulf residents, promising high and regular returns that appealed to expatriates seeking halal investment options.