News Analysis India

Tag: Enforcement Directorate

  • Bihar: ED to attach property of 170 criminals, worth Rs 299 crore

    Express News Service
    PATNA: Notorious bank-robber Amrendra K Madahv, 45, would have never imagined that his entire property will one day be confiscated by the government. He continued committing crimes, running an interstate gang of bank robbers but has now become literally a ‘pauper’ following the attachment of his property, worth Rs 1.5 crore by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the recommendation of state economic offence unit.

    Amrendra was arrested from Dhanbad and his property in Bihar and Jharkhand were attached by the ED. Even a plot of 5 katha land bought in the name of his wife has also been attached by the department. He had got the property made in the fake names of him and his wife as Sujeet Mitttal and Pooja Mittal.

    Madhav, born in Bihar’s Gaya district, is not the only one whose property has been attached. There are 170 notorious criminals in the list of EOU, whose properties — both moveable and immoveable — would soon be attached by the ED.

    The Economic Offence Unit (EOU) has started the mission under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 and the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 1944. The proposal to attach the property of 170 criminals has been sent to the ED by the EOU.

    Sources from police department said that property, worth Rs 299 crore, belonging to the 170 would be attached by the ED following the recommendation of Bihar’s Economic Offence Unit.

  • Bank robber turns ‘pauper’ after Bihar government confiscates properties worth Rs 1.5 crore

    By Express News Service
    PATNA: Notorious bank-robber Amrendra K Madhav, 45, would have never imagined that his entire property would one day be confiscated by the government.

    The man who committed several crimes and ran an interstate gang of bank robbers now has become literally a ‘pauper’ with the attachment of his property, worth Rs 1.5 crore, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the recommendation of Bihar’s economic offences unit (EOU).

    He was arrested from Dhanbad and his property in Bihar and Jharkhand were attached by the ED. Even a plot in the name of his wife has also been attached. Madhav had bought several properties in the fake names Sujeet Mitttal and Pooja Mittal.

    Madhav, born in Gaya district, is not alone, when it comes to attachment of property.

    There are 170 notorious criminals in the list of EOU, whose property, both moveable and immovable, would soon be attached by the ED.

    A proposal to attach the properties of these criminals has been sent to the agency.

  • Enforcement Directorate raids ex-United Bank of India CMD Archana Bhargava 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has searched two premises of former United Bank of India (UBI) CMD Archana Bhargava in connection with a money laundering investigation.

    It said the action against the banker, also a former executive director of Canara Bank, was undertaken in Delhi under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is based on a 2018 FIR filed against her by the CBI for alleged possession of disproportionate assets.

    “As per the CBI FIR, she had amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 3.63 crore during the check period when she was occupying senior positions in various public sector banks,” the agency said in a statement.

    “The searches were carried out by the ED to trace the proceeds of crime and to unearth the documentary evidence showing acquisition, routing, layering and projection (as legitimate assets) of the said proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 3.63 crore, leading to commission of the offence of money-laundering,” the agency added.

    ED carries out searches at two premises belonging to Archana Bhargava, Ex- Chairperson-cum-Managing Director of United Bank of India and also Ex- Executive Director of Canara Bank
    — ED (@dir_ed) March 26, 2021

    As a result of searches, it said, ED has recovered certain “incriminating documents and electronic evidences pertaining to aforesaid further reinforcing the case against Archana Bhargava.”

    The ED said this is a second case of money laundering filed against the ex-banker and she was already being probed by it under the criminal sections of PMLA on the basis of a 2016 CBI FIR.

    “The said FIR pertains to use of Kolkata-based shell companies to layer the proceeds of crime into the accounts of Rank Mercantile Private Limited (RMPL), a company owned by her husband and son,” the ED said.

    Bhargava became a Deputy General Manager of Punjab National Bank in 2004 and General Manager in 2008.

    She worked as Executive Director at Canara Bank from April 1, 20011 to April 22, 2013.

    She joined the United Bank of India on April 23, 2013 as Chairperson-cum-Managing Director, a position she held till February 20, 2014.

  • No change in PDP’s stand on Article 370 restoration: Mehbooba Mufti

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was on Thursday questioned by the officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its Srinagar office for over five hours in connection with a money laundering case. 

    After the questioning, Mehbooba said dissent has been criminalised and asserted there won’t be any change in her party’s stand on the Kashmir issue and Article 370 restoration. Mehbooba had earlier skipped ED summons on March 15 and 22 to New Delhi saying she cannot travel to the national capital as she had got prior commitments that cannot be cancelled.  

    She had also moved the Delhi High Court to quash the ED summons but the court on March 19 refused to stay the summons. Talking to reporters after the marathon questioning, Mehbooba said, “They questioned me over two issues — our ancestral property at Bijbehara and how I used the CM’s secret funds.” “They asked me if I provided money to widows and who was providing the list of widows and who was identifying them,” she said. 

    Alleging that dissent has been criminalised in the country, the former chief minister said, “Whosoever opposes the government is either being booked under sedition or money laundering charges and the NIA, ED and CBI are being used against them.” “The country is not being run according to the Constitution but according to a political party’s agenda,” she said.

  • Money laundering case: Mehbooba Mufti to appear before ED on Thursday

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR:  PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Srinagar on Thursday to face questioning in connection with a money-laundering case, sources in the party said. Mehbooba did not appear before the agency in Delhi on Monday, saying that she had prior commitments that could not be cancelled.

    She requested the ED officials to question her in Srinagar and not in Delhi and her request was accepted, the sources said. The 61-year-old leader, who was released last year after more than a year in detention following the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, was served a notice to appear at the ED headquarters in the national capital.

    On March 19, the Delhi High Court had refused to stay summons issued to her after she moved the court seeking quashing of the summons in the case. The ED, which had earlier summoned Mufti on March 15, had not insisted on her personal appearance at that time. “I write to you in reference to the summons issued to me to be present at your Delhi office on March 22.

    I have challenged in the Delhi High Court the constitutional vires of Section 50 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), under which these summons are issued,” she said in a letter to the ED. Section 50 of the PMLA empowers the authority, that is, officers of the ED, to summon any person to give evidence or produce records.

    Persons summoned are bound to answer the questions put to them and to produce documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalised under the PMLA. “I am not in a position to attend the summon on 22nd March as I have prior commitments that cannot be cancelled at such short notice,” she wrote.

  • Money laundering case: Mehbooba Mufti to appear for questioning before ED in Srinagar on Thursday

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti would appear before Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Srinagar for questioning in a money laundering case on Thursday.

    Sources told The New Indian Express that Mehbooba would be appearing in ED’s Srinagar office tomorrow to face questioning in the money laundering case. “She had shown her reluctance to go to Delhi and requested the ED officials to question her in Srinagar and not in Delhi. Her request was accepted and now ED officials have arranged for her questioning in Srinagar tomorrow,” they said.

    The ED had served notice to Mehbooba to appear at ED’s headquarters in New Delhi for questioning on March 22 after Delhi HC on March 19 refused to stay summons issued to her by the central agency.

    However, the PDP chief had not travelled to Delhi on March 22 for questioning saying that she had prior commitments that cannot be cancelled.

    On March 5 this year, ED had summoned Mehbooba for questioning in a money laundering case in New Delhi on March 15. The ED has filed a case against Mehbooba under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    The summon had warned that in case she fails to give evidence as mentioned in the Schedule, she shall be liable to penal proceedings  under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (15 of 2003). After receiving the ED summons, Mehbooba had alleged that Centre’s tactics to intimidate and browbeat political opponents won’t work.

    “GOI’s tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable. They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short-sighted scheming won’t work (sic),” Mehbooba had tweeted.

    GOIs tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable.They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short sighted scheming wont work .
    — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 5, 2021

    Mehbooba, who is critical of Article 370 abrogation and demanding restoration of J&K’s special status, was released from 14 months detention in October 2020. She was among the mainstream leaders arrested on August 5, 2019 when centre scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu & Kashir state into two Union Territories. She was among the dozen mainstream leaders booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) after her detention.

    In December last year, ED had attached properties worth Rs 12 crore of former J&K Chief Minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in J&K Cricket Association scam.

    The attached properties include his Gupar residence in Srinagar, another residence at Katipora in Tangmarg and one in Jammu besides his commercial buildings at Residency Road, Srinagar and land. Abdullah, who is Srinagar MP, has challenged the attachment of his properties in Jammu & Kashmir High Court.

  • Money laundering case: Mehbooba Mufti doesn’t appear before ED

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate at its headquarters here in a money laundering case, citing that she had prior commitments that could not be cancelled.

    However, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said she is ready and willing to be questioned in Srinagar, preferably at her residence or through video conference.

    The 61-year-old leader, who was released last year after more than a year in detention following the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, was served a notice to appear at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) headquarters in the national capital.

    On March 19, the Delhi High Court had refused to stay summons issued to her after she moved the court seeking quashing of the summons in the case.

    The ED, which had earlier summoned Mehbooba on March 15, had not insisted on her personal appearance at that time.

    “I write to you in reference to the summons issued to me to be present at your Delhi office on March 22. I have challenged in the Delhi High Court the constitutional vires of Section 50 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), under which these summons are issued,” she said in a letter to the ED.

    Section 50 of the PMLA empowers the authority, that is, officers of the ED, to summon any person to give evidence or produce records.

    Persons summoned are bound to answer the questions put to them and to produce documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalised under the PMLA.

    The PDP leader said that without prejudice to any of the contentions in the proceedings before the high court, “I state that I am not in a position to attend the summon on 22nd March as I have prior commitments that cannot be cancelled at such short notice”.

    “If however you insist we must do it sooner, I am ready and willing to be questioned in Srinagar, preferably at my residence or through video conference from Srinagar,” Mehbooba said in her letter.

    She also demanded necessary material and documentation which would enable her to assess the subject matter of the summons.

    “I am completely in the dark as to what this summon is about and what the scheduled offence is that has given rise to these proceedings. In the event that you are unable to accede to one or more of these requests, I urge you to pass reasoned orders in respect of such requests,” Mehbooba said.

    She said her response to the summons does not in any manner mean that “I accept its legality or that I have waived any of my contentions on the vires of Section 50 of the PMLA or the summons sent to me purportedly under that provision or any objections I may have in law to the use of any statement in that regard”.

    Refusing to stay the summons to her, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh had said that they are not granting any relief to the PDP leader.

    The court asked the ED to file a short note of submission along with compilation of judgments relied upon by them before the next date on April 16.

    It also asked Mehbooba’s counsel to file a short note.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, said she just has to appear before the officials.

    Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, representing Mehbooba, urged the court to ask the ED not to insist for her personal presence as was done earlier.

    To this, the bench said, “We are not giving any stay. We are not granting any relief.”

    The PDP leader has also sought to declare Section 50 of the PMLA as void and inoperative, being unfairly discriminatory, bereft of safeguards, and violative of Article 20(3) of the Constitution.

    She has also sought an interim stay on the summons until the question of law in relation to constitutionality of PMLA’s section is decided.

    After receiving the ED summons, Mufti had said that the Centre’s “tactics to intimidate and browbeat political opponents” won’t work.

    “GOI’s tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable. They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short-sighted scheming won’t work,” the PDP leader had tweeted, without any mention of the ED notice.

  • Saradha ghost returns as more officials, Trinamool candidates get summons ahead of polls

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  With the state heading towards the first of its eight-phase poll schedule, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) swung into action on Friday and issued summons to two IAS officers, including a principal secretary, former director general of police and security advisor of Mamata Banerjee’s government.

    Earlier on Friday, CBI interrogated two Trinamool Congress candidates in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

    Madan Mitra, who is contesting from Kamarhati constituency, and Jorasanko candidate Vivek Gupta appeared before CBI sleuths.

    Mitra, who has been fielded by the party from Kamarhati assembly constituency, was, in the past, arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the case, and later granted bail.

    “I will always co-operate with the central agency. They summoned me and I visited their office. They asked questions and I replied,’’ said Mitra.

    Gupta, who is contesting the elections from Jorasanko seat, admitted that he knew Sudipto Sen, the owner of the blacklisted firm, and said he visited the ED office to submit income tax details.

    The ED issued summons to principal secretary B Gopalika, asking him to visit its office on March 24 in connection with a probe into the controversial 2017 disinvestment of the West Bengal government’s stake in Metro Dairy, which was India’s first public-private partnership in the dairy sector.

    The CBI summoned former IPS officers Surajit Kar Purkayastha and and Rajat Majumdar. Purkayastha is presently serving as security advisor to the state government, in connection with the Saradha scam.

    Sources in the agency said Purkayastha was seen attending an event organised by Saradha and delivering a speech.

    Majumdar, the former DGP of West Bengal, was earlier apprehended by the CBI in the chit fund case.

    The Calcutta High Court later granted him bail.

    The central agency also issued summons to IPS officer LN Meena, who was the commissioner of Asansol commissionerate, and IAS officer Arun Prasad, district magistrate of Bankura, in connection with a coal pilferage case.

    Shah to release Bengal manifesto on Sunday

    Union Minister for Home Affairs and former BJP chief Amit Shah will release the party’s manifesto for the West Bengal Assembly elections on Sunday.

    The manifesto has been prepared on the basis of an outreach programme in which public suggestions were taken, on the lines of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    Shah will be on a one-day visit of West Bengal to release the manifesto.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Delhi HC refuses to put stay on ED summon to Mehbooba Mufti

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant a stay on the fresh Enforcement Directorate (ED) notice issued against Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti in a money-laundering matter.

    Division Bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh, while posting the matter for April 16 for further hearing, asked the respondents to file a compilation of related judgements.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED and Union of India, submitted that Mehbooba Mufti has to appear before the agencies.

    According to the ED, Mehbooba Mufti has been served with a fresh notice seeking her presence on March 22 before the agency.

    PDP Leader approached the Delhi HC against the summons in the money laundering matter.

    Mufti has also challenged the constitutional vires of section 50, and any incidental provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan has appeared for Mufti in the court.

    Mehbooba Mufti, after receiving the notice of summon, had tweeted that “GOI’s tactics to intimidate and browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable.They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions and policies. Such short-sighted scheming will not work”.

    Section 50 of the PMLA empowers the ‘authorities’ (officers of the Enforcement Directorate), to summon any person to give evidence or produce records. All persons summoned are bound to answer questions put to them, and to produce the documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalised under the PMLA.

    Mufti’s petition stated that she has not been informed she is being summoned either as an accused or as a witness. She has also not been informed of what she is being summoned in connection with.

    Plea added that the petitioner (Mehbooba Mufti) is not the subject of investigation, nor is she an accused, in any of the scheduled offences under the PMLA, to the best of her knowledge.

    The petitioner also wrote a letter to the ED pointing to the roving nature of the inquiry undertaken in the case thus far and that in the event of she being questioned, she will insist on the legitimacy of the process.

    “As a responsible member of society, the petitioner is always ready and willing to aid the process of law. However, it is equally her duty to bring to the notice of this Court, deviations from due process in legislative and executive acts. The petitioner apprehended that the ‘Impugned Summons’ is a means of bringing undue pressure and harassment upon her and therefore, the petitioner wishes to assert her constitutional rights in this regard,” read the petition.  

  • Premises of Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhokkar searched by ED

    By Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH:  The sleuths of Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department searched the premises of Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhokkar and his family members here, Samalkha, Gurugram, Faridabad and Hisar.

    Sources said sleuths started the searches at twelve places around 6 am.

    These included the Samalkha MLA’s flat at Sector 2 in Chandigarh, his residence, a petrol pump at Sai Enclave and a showroom in the grain market at Samalkha besides some properties in Gurugram.

    Searches were also conducted on the premises of the legislator’s close relatives and business partners. The searches were conducted over suspicion of amassing of disproportionate assets.