The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, provisionally attached assets worth Rs 2.89 crore, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in a case relating to bribery involving four officers of Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) in Kolkata.
The federal financial probe agency move comes after the registration of FIR by Kolkata Anti-Corruption Bureau against Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Chandra Singh and three other officers namely Samiran Kumar Mondal, Deepak Bhattacharya and Sukumar Shaw.
The probe agency during investigation searched the premises of these officers.
“Search at the residence of Ramesh Chandra Singh resulted in the recovery of cash of Rs10.60 lakhs, Gold and Diamond Jewellery worth Rs 27 lakhs besides documents relating to Bank Fixed Deposits, Postal deposits, immovable properties and details of 75 bank and Post Office Accounts”, the probing agency said.
Investigation revealed that Ramesh Chandra Singh was receiving bribes by misusing his official position and thereby acquired assets disproportionate to his income and he was laundering the illegal gratification by investing in various properties and parking funds in the name of his family members.
He also created false documents to project the bribe money as legal money by creating false documents of tuition income, tailoring income, brokerage, Commodity Trading profit in the name of his wife and other family members, the agency said.
Based on the PMLA investigations, a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) has been issued for the attachment of assets totaling Rs.2.89 crores which include Deposit certificates of Banks and Post Offices as well as Bank and Postal Accounts balances, immovable properties in the nature of flats in Kolkata. Further investigation are in progress, the ED further said. (UNI)
